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.

1. iterative implementation

Analysis: Use the list which contains the smallest element as the one "being merged" in this problem. 

/**
 * Definition for singly-linked list.
 * public class ListNode {
 *     int val;
 *     ListNode next;
 *     ListNode(int x) {
 *         val = x;
 *         next = null;
 *     }
 * }
 */
public class Solution {
    public ListNode mergeTwoLists(ListNode l1, ListNode l2) {
        if(l1==null) return l2;
        else if(l2==null) return l1;
        
        ListNode sortedList = new ListNode(-1);
        ListNode pre = null;
        ListNode cur = null;
        ListNode cur1 = null;

        if(l1.val <= l2.val) {
            sortedList.next = l1;
            pre = l1;
            cur = l1.next;
            cur1 = l2;
        }
        else {
            sortedList.next = l2;
            pre = l2;
            cur = l2.next;
            cur1 = l1;
        }
        
        while(cur1 != null) {
            if(cur == null) {
                pre.next = cur1;
                break;
            }
            
            if(cur.val > cur1.val) {
                pre.next = cur1;
                cur1 = cur1.next;
                pre.next.next = cur;
            }
            else {
                cur = cur.next;
            }
            pre = pre.next;
        }
        
        return sortedList.next;
    }
}

2. recursive implementation

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