LeetCode#21: Merge Two Sorted Lists

Description

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.

Example

Example:

Input: 1->2->4, 1->3->4
Output: 1->1->2->3->4->4

Solution

这道题是一道比较经典的题目，要求合并两个有序链表为一个新的有序链表。如果是在实际面试中出现的话，我们应当先问清楚是否可以修改原有链表。如果要求只在原有链表上进行合并的话，可以考虑使用递归的方式：

public class Solution {
    public ListNode mergeTwoLists(ListNode l1, ListNode l2) {
        if(l1 == null) return l2;
        if(l2 == null) return l1;
        
        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;
    }
}

非递归的代码如下：

public class Solution {
    public ListNode mergeTwoLists(ListNode l1, ListNode l2) {
    	ListNode head = new ListNode(0);
    	ListNode curr = head;
    	
    	while(l1 != null && l2 != null) {
    		if(l1.val < l2.val) {
    			curr.next = l1;
    			l1 = l1.next;
    		} else if(l1.val >= l2.val) {
    			curr.next = l2;
    			l2 = l2.next;
    		}
    		curr = curr.next;
    	}
    	if(l1 != null) {
    		curr.next = l1;
    	} else if(l2 != null) {
    		curr.next = l2;
    	}
    	return head.next;
    }
}

但如果要求不可以修改原有链表，合并链表的每个节点都必须是新创建的话，将以上代码稍加修改即可：

public class Solution2 {
    public ListNode mergeTwoLists(ListNode l1, ListNode l2) {    	
        ListNode head = new ListNode(0);
        ListNode curr  = head;
        
        while(l1 != null && l2 != null) {
        	if(l1.val < l2.val) {
        		curr.next = new ListNode(l1.val);
        		l1 = l1.next;
        	} else {
        		curr.next = new ListNode(l2.val);
        		l2 = l2.next;
        	}
        	curr = curr.next;
        }
        
        if(l1 == null) {
        	while(l2 != null) {
        		curr.next = new ListNode(l2.val);
        		l2 = l2.next;
        		curr = curr.next;
        	}
        } else {
        	while(l1 != null) {
        		curr.next = new ListNode(l1.val);
        		l1 = l1.next;
        		curr = curr.next;
        	}
        }
        return head.next;
    }
}