LeetCode23. Merge k Sorted Lists（C++/Python）

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

Example:

Input:
[
  1->4->5,
  1->3->4,
  2->6
]
Output: 1->1->2->3->4->4->5->6

解题思路：两个有序链表的话，我们都会排列，所以这里可以两两合并。最暴力的解法，将第一个链表不停地与其他链表进行合并。

C++

class Solution {
public:
    ListNode* mergeKLists(vector<ListNode*>& lists) {
        if(lists.size()==0){
            ListNode *l;
            l=new ListNode(0);
            return l->next;
        }
        for(int i=1;i<lists.size();i++){
            lists[0]=mergeTwoLists(lists[0], lists[i]);
        }
        return lists[0];
    }
    ListNode* mergeTwoLists(ListNode* l1, ListNode* l2) {
        ListNode* head,*temp,*p,*q;
        head=new ListNode(0);
        temp=head;
        p=l1;q=l2;
        while(p!=NULL&&q!=NULL){
            if(p->val<=q->val){
                temp->next=p;
                temp=temp->next;
                p=p->next;
            }
            else{
                temp->next=q;
                temp=temp->next;
                q=q->next;
            }
        }
        if(p!=NULL)
            temp->next=p;
        if(q!=NULL)
            temp->next=q;
        return head->next;
    }
};

Python

# Definition for singly-linked list.
# class ListNode(object):
#     def __init__(self, x):
#         self.val = x
#         self.next = None

class Solution(object):
    def mergeKLists(self, lists):
        """
        :type lists: List[ListNode]
        :rtype: ListNode
        """
        if not lists:
            return None
        def mergeTwoLists(l1, l2):
            p, q, ans = l1, l2, ListNode(0)
            r = ans
            while p and q:
                if p.val > q.val:
                    p, q = q, p
                r.next = p
                p, r = p.next, r.next
            if q:
                r.next = q
            else:
                r.next = p
            return ans.next
        for i in range(1, len(lists)):
            lists[0] = mergeTwoLists(lists[0], lists[i])
        return lists[0]
        

优化一下，不难发现，上述解法的效率太低，按哈夫曼树的思想，每次取两个待排序中长度最短的链表进行合并，此时的效率比较高，但是我们不能知道所有链表的长度，所以这里用一种近似解法，即归并排序，先每两个链表进行合并，然后得到的链表再进行两两合并，以此类推。

C++

class Solution {
public:
    ListNode* mergeKLists(vector<ListNode*>& lists) {
        if(lists.size() == 0)
            return NULL;
        int length = lists.size();
        int interval = 1;
        while(interval < length){
            for(int i = 0; i < length - interval; i += interval * 2)
                lists[i] = mergeTwoLists(lists[i], lists[i + interval]);
            interval <<= 1;
        }
        return lists[0];
    }
    ListNode* mergeTwoLists(ListNode* l1, ListNode* l2) {
        ListNode* head,*temp,*p,*q;
        head = new ListNode(0);
        temp = head;
        p = l1;q = l2;
        while(p!=NULL&&q!=NULL){
            if(p->val<=q->val){
                temp->next=p;
                temp=temp->next;
                p=p->next;
            }
            else{
                temp->next=q;
                temp=temp->next;
                q=q->next;
            }
        }
        if(p!=NULL)
            temp->next=p;
        if(q!=NULL)
            temp->next=q;
        return head->next;
    }
};

Python

class Solution(object):
    def mergeKLists(self, lists):
        """
        :type lists: List[ListNode]
        :rtype: ListNode
        """
        if not lists:
            return None
        def mergeTwoLists(l1, l2):
            p, q, ans = l1, l2, ListNode(0)
            r = ans
            while p and q:
                if p.val > q.val:
                    p, q = q, p
                r.next = p
                p, r = p.next, r.next
            if q:
                r.next = q
            else:
                r.next = p
            return ans.next
        interval = 1
        while interval < len(lists): 
            for i in range(0, len(lists) - interval, 2 * interval):
                lists[i] = mergeTwoLists(lists[i], lists[i + interval]);
            interval <<= 1;
        return lists[0]