Linked List Cycle

Linked List Cycle

Linked List Cycle is a problem to tell if there is a cycle in the single linked list.

We can imagine that if we traverse in the cycle in the linked list, we can never get out. So we declare two pointers, pa and pb. pa moves two step forward and pb moves one step at the same time. If pointer pa eventually reach the end of the list, it is easy to know that the linked-list has no cycle. If pb reaches the same node with pa, then we know that there's a cycle for sure.

the solution is easy enough.

/**
 * Definition for singly-linked list.
 * struct ListNode {
 *     int val;
 *     ListNode *next;
 *     ListNode(int x) : val(x), next(NULL) {}
 * };
 */
class Solution {
public:
    bool hasCycle(ListNode *head) {
        ListNode *a(head), *b(head);
        do {
            a = (a && a -> next)? (a -> next -> next): NULL;
            b = (b)? (b -> next): NULL;
        } while(a != b);
        return a && b && a == b;
    }
};

Linked List Cycle II

 This problem is an update to Linked List Cycle which want you to tell the node where cycle begins.

It is described above that pa moves two steps at one time, and pb moves one step at one time.

So, the total step that pa moves is A + B + C + B, and pb totally moves A + B. And we know that pa moves two time faster than pb.

=> A + B + C + B = 2 * A + 2 * B => A == C

So we move pa back to the start node of the list. And pa and pb both move A(or C) steps. At last, they reach the node that cycle starts.

/**
 * Definition for singly-linked list.
 * struct ListNode {
 *     int val;
 *     ListNode *next;
 *     ListNode(int x) : val(x), next(NULL) {}
 * };
 */
class Solution {
public:
    ListNode *detectCycle(ListNode *head) {
        ListNode *a(head), *b(head);
        
        do {
            a = (a && a -> next)? a -> next -> next: NULL;
            b = (b)? b -> next: NULL;
        } while(a != b);
        
        if (!a || !b) return NULL;
        
        a = head;
        while (a != b) {
            a = a -> next;
            b = b -> next;
        }
        return a;
    }
};