21. Merge Two Sorted Lists

Description

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.

Example:

Input: 1->2->4, 1->3->4
Output: 1->1->2->3->4->4

Solution

Iteration, O(min(m, n)), S(1)

/**
 * Definition for singly-linked list.
 * public class ListNode {
 *     int val;
 *     ListNode next;
 *     ListNode(int x) { val = x; }
 * }
 */
class Solution {
    public ListNode mergeTwoLists(ListNode l1, ListNode l2) {
        // maintain an unchanging reference to node ahead of the return node
        ListNode dummy = new ListNode(0);
        ListNode tail = dummy;
        
        while (l1 != null && l2 != null) {
            if (l1.val <= l2.val) {
                tail.next = l1;
                l1 = l1.next;
            } else {
                tail.next = l2;
                l2 = l2.next;
            }
            
            tail = tail.next;
        }
        // exactly one of l1 and l2 can be non-null at this point, so connect
        // the non-null list to the end of the merged list
        tail.next = l1 != null ? l1 : l2;
        return dummy.next;
    }
}

Recursion, O(min(m, n)), S(min(m, n))

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