160. Intersection of Two Linked Lists

Write a program to find the node at which the intersection of two singly linked lists begins.

For example, the following two linked lists:

A:          a1 → a2
                   ↘
                     c1 → c2 → c3
                   ↗            
B:     b1 → b2 → b3

begin to intersect at node c1.

Notes:

• If the two linked lists have no intersection at all, return null.
• The linked lists must retain their original structure after the function returns.
• You may assume there are no cycles anywhere in the entire linked structure.
• Your code should preferably run in O(n) time and use only O(1) memory.

Credits:
Special thanks to @stellari for adding this problem and creating all test cases.

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Java Code:

/**
 * Definition for singly-linked list.
 * public class ListNode {
 *     int val;
 *     ListNode next;
 *     ListNode(int x) {
 *         val = x;
 *         next = null;
 *     }
 * }
 */
public class Solution {
    public ListNode getIntersectionNode(ListNode headA, ListNode headB) {
        ListNode ha = headA;
        ListNode hb = headB;
        int la = 0;
        int lb = 0;
        
        while (ha != null || hb != null) {
            if (ha != null) {
                la++;
                ha = ha.next;
            }
            
            if (hb != null) {
                lb++;
                hb = hb.next;
            }
        }
        ha = headA;
        hb = headB;
        if (la < lb) {
            ha = headB;
            hb = headA;
            la = lb + la;
            lb = la - lb;
            la = la - lb;
        }
        
        int k = la - lb;
        while (ha != null && hb != null && ha != hb) {
            ha = ha.next;
            if (--k < 0) {
                hb = hb.next;
            }
        }
        
        return ha == hb ? ha : null;
    }
}