Leetcode 21. Merge Two Sorted Lists

Merge two sorted linked lists and return it as a new list. The new list should be made by splicing together the nodes of the first two lists.

递归算法：

/**
 * Definition for singly-linked list.
 * struct ListNode {
 *     int val;
 *     ListNode *next;
 *     ListNode(int x) : val(x), next(NULL) {}
 * };
 */
class Solution {
public:
    ListNode* mergeTwoLists(ListNode* l1, ListNode* l2) {
        if(l2 == NULL) 
            return l1;
        if(l1 == NULL) 
            return l2;
        ListNode* head = NULL;
        if(l1->val < l2->val) {
            head = l1;
            head->next = mergeTwoLists(l1->next, l2);
        } 
        else {
            head = l2;
            head->next = mergeTwoLists(l1, l2->next);
        }
        return head;
    }
};

非递归算法：

ListNode *mergeTwoLists(ListNode *l1, ListNode *l2) {

    if(NULL == l1) return l2;
    if(NULL == l2) return l1;

    ListNode* head=NULL;    // head of the list to return

    // find first element (can use dummy node to put this part inside of the loop)
    if(l1->val < l2->val)       { head = l1; l1 = l1->next; }
    else                        { head = l2; l2 = l2->next; }

    ListNode* p = head;     // pointer to form new list

    // I use && to remove extra IF from the loop
    while(l1 && l2){
        if(l1->val < l2->val)   { p->next = l1; l1 = l1->next; }
        else                    { p->next = l2; l2 = l2->next; }
        p=p->next;
    }

    // add the rest of the tail, done!
    if(l1)  p->next=l1;
    else    p->next=l2;

    return head;
}