369. Plus One Linked List

Question

Given a non-negative integer represented as non-empty a singly linked list of digits, plus one to the integer.

You may assume the integer do not contain any leading zero, except the number 0 itself.

The digits are stored such that the most significant digit is at the head of the list.

Example :

Input: [1,2,3]
Output: [1,2,4]

Solution

/**
 * Definition for singly-linked list.
 * public class ListNode {
 *     int val;
 *     ListNode next;
 *     ListNode(int x) { val = x; }
 * }
 */
class Solution {
    public ListNode plusOne(ListNode head) {
        if (helper(head) == 0) {
            return head;
        } else {
            ListNode newHead = new ListNode(1);
            newHead.next = head;
            return newHead;
        }
    }
    
    private int helper (ListNode head) {
        if (head.next == null) {
            if (head.val + 1 > 9) {
                head.val = 0;
                return 1;
            } else {
                head.val++;
                return 0;
            }
        }
        
        int addOn = helper(head.next);
        if (head.val + addOn > 9) {
            head.val = 0;
            return 1;
        } else {
            head.val = head.val + addOn;
            return 0;
        }
    }
}

Note:

If we convert the linked list into a string, and then re-assign the value back to the linked list, then we will have TLE.