【Hard】23. Merge k Sorted Lists

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

中心思想：（此题应有多解）

之前做过merge sorted lists的题，用那一题的方法，写一个Helper function，然后将此列表中的数组一一merge。此方法time complexity可能不够好。

/**
 * Definition for singly-linked list.
 * struct ListNode {
 *     int val;
 *     ListNode *next;
 *     ListNode(int x) : val(x), next(NULL) {}
 * };
 */
class Solution {
public:
    ListNode* mergeKLists(vector<ListNode*>& lists) {
        int n = lists.size();
        ListNode* result = NULL;
        if (n ==0){
            return result;
        }else if (n == 1){
            return lists[0];
        }
        
        
        for (int i = 0; i < n; i++){
            result = merge(result, lists[i]);
        }
        
        return result;
        
      
      
    }
    
    
    ListNode* merge(ListNode* l1, ListNode* l2){
        if (l1 == NULL)
            return l2;
        else if (l2 == NULL)
            return l1;
     
      
        ListNode* head=NULL;

        
        if(l1->val <= l2->val){
            head = l1;
            l1 = l1->next;
        }else{
            head = l2;
            l2 = l2->next;
            
        }
        
        ListNode* ret=head;
        
        while(l1 != NULL && l2 != NULL){
            if (l1->val <= l2->val){
                ret->next = l1;
                l1 = l1->next;
            }
            else if (l1->val > l2->val){
              ret->next = l2;
                l2 = l2->next;
            }
            ret = ret->next;
        }
        
        if (l1 == NULL)
            ret->next = l2;
        else if (l2 == NULL)
            ret->next = l1;
            
        return head;
    }
};