Leetcode #23 Merge k Sorted Lists

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

Difficulty: Hard

Divide and conquer, not a hard question.

nlogk

/**
 * Definition for singly-linked list.
 * struct ListNode {
 *     int val;
 *     ListNode *next;
 *     ListNode(int x) : val(x), next(NULL) {}
 * };
 */
class Solution {
public:
    ListNode* mergeTwo(ListNode *l1, ListNode *l2){
        ListNode* start = new ListNode(0);
        ListNode* current = start;
        while(l1!=NULL&&l2!=NULL){
            if(l1->val<l2->val){
                current->next = l1;
                current = current->next;
                l1 = l1->next;
                current->next = NULL;
            }
            else{
                current->next = l2;
                current = current->next;
                l2 = l2->next;
                current->next = NULL;
            }
            
        }
        if(l1==NULL){
            current->next = l2;
        }
        else if(l2==NULL){
            current->next = l1;
        }
        return start->next;
    }
    ListNode* mergeKLists(vector<ListNode*>& lists) {
        vector<ListNode*> listsNoNull;
        int len = lists.size();
        for(int i = 0;i<len;i++)
            if(lists[i]!=NULL)
                listsNoNull.push_back(lists[i]);
        len = listsNoNull.size();
        if(len==0)
            return NULL;
        int currentLen = len;
        while(currentLen!=1){
            for(int i = 0; i<=currentLen/2-1;i++){
                listsNoNull[i] = mergeTwo(listsNoNull[i], listsNoNull[currentLen-i-1]);
            }
            currentLen = currentLen/2 + currentLen%2;
        }
        return listsNoNull[0];
    }
};