LeetCode22: Merge k Sorted Lists

Merge k sorted linked lists and return it as one sorted list. Analyze and describe its complexity.

 * Definition for singly-linked list.
 * public class ListNode {
 *     int val;
 *     ListNode next;
 *     ListNode(int x) {
 *         val = x;
 *         next = null;
 *     }
 * }
 */
public class Solution {
    public ListNode mergeKLists(ArrayList<ListNode> lists) {
        // Start typing your Java solution below
        // DO NOT write main() function
        if(lists.size() == 0)
            return null;
        
        int start=0;
        ListNode list1 = null;

        while(list1==null && start<lists.size()){
            list1 = lists.get(start);
            start++;
        }
            
        for(int i=start; i<lists.size(); i++){
            ListNode list2 = lists.get(i);
            if(list2 == null)
                continue;
                
            ListNode mergedHead = new ListNode(-1);
            ListNode mergedCur = mergedHead;

            while(list1!=null && list2!=null){
                if(list1.val <= list2.val){
                    mergedCur.next = list1;
                    mergedCur = mergedCur.next;
                    list1 = list1.next;
                }
                else{
                    mergedCur.next = list2;
                    mergedCur = mergedCur.next;
                    list2 = list2.next;
                }
            }
            while(list1!=null){
                mergedCur.next = list1;
                mergedCur = mergedCur.next;
                list1 = list1.next;                
            }
            while(list2!=null){
                mergedCur.next = list2;
                mergedCur = mergedCur.next;
                list2 = list2.next;                
            }
            list1 = mergedHead.next;
        }
        return list1;
    }
}

This algorithm merge need to do k-1 merge. Better solution should merge a pair of list each time and do it for lgk times.

The time complexity is O(k*lgN), Space O(N).

#PriorityQueue Sulotion#

public class Solution {
    class NodeComparator implements Comparator<ListNode>{
        public int compare(ListNode o1, ListNode o2){
            return o1.val-o2.val;
        };
    }
    
    public ListNode mergeKLists(ArrayList<ListNode> lists) {
        // Start typing your Java solution below
        // DO NOT write main() function
        if(lists.size() == 0)
            return null;
        
        int size = lists.size();
        ListNode head = new ListNode(0); // dummy node
        ListNode cur = head;
        PriorityQueue<ListNode> pq = 
            new PriorityQueue<ListNode>(size, new NodeComparator());
        for(int i=0; i<size; i++){
            ListNode node = lists.get(i);
            if(node==null)
                continue;
            pq.add(node);
        }
        
        while(pq.size()>0){
            // dequeue --- get the min Node
            ListNode next = pq.poll();
            cur.next = next;
            cur = next;
            
            // enqueue from the same list
            if(next.next!=null)
                pq.add(next.next);
        }
        head = head.next;
        return head;
    }   
}

Time Complexity: O(K*lgN)   k=num of list, N=total number of Nodes.
Space：O(k).

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

LL's solution:

/**
 * Definition for singly-linked list.
 * public class ListNode {
 *     int val;
 *     ListNode next;
 *     ListNode(int x) {
 *         val = x;
 *         next = null;
 *     }
 * }
 */
public class Solution {
    public ListNode mergeKLists(ArrayList<ListNode> lists) {
        // Start typing your Java solution below
        // DO NOT write main() function
        
        // remove all the empty listnode
        ListNode empty = null;
        while(lists.contains(empty))
            lists.remove(empty);
            
        int len = lists.size();
        if(len==0)
            return null;
        if(len == 1 )
            return lists.get(0);
        
        ListNode dummy = new ListNode(0);
        ListNode runner = dummy;         

         
        while(lists.size()>1){
            // find min head
            int min = lists.get(0).val;
            int min_index = 0;
            for(int i = 1; i<lists.size(); i++){
                ListNode head = lists.get(i);
                if(head.val<min){
                    min = head.val;
                    min_index = i;
                }
            }
            
            // add min head to runner
            runner.next = lists.get(min_index);
            runner = runner.next;
            if(lists.get(min_index).next!=null)
                lists.set(min_index,lists.get(min_index).next);
            else
                lists.remove(min_index);        
        }
        runner.next = lists.get(0);
        
        return dummy.next;
    }
}

每次遍历list里的head，找出最小，连在res后面，head后移。

Note：list.get 返回的是copy，所以必须把list.get(i).next的值重新赋给list(i)， using list.set(i,new_value).