LeetCode Challenge #142. Linked List Cycle II

Day 71 of 100 Days LeetCode Challenge

LeetCode Challenge #142. Linked List Cycle II

Given the head of a linked list, return the node where the cycle begins. If there is no cycle, return null.

There is a cycle in a linked list if there is some node in the list that can be reached again by continuously following the next pointer. Internally, pos is used to denote the index of the node that tail’s next pointer is connected to (0-indexed). It is -1 if there is no cycle. Note that pos is not passed as a parameter.

Do not modify the linked list.

Example 1:

Input: head = [3,2,0,-4], pos = 1
Output: tail connects to node index 1
Explanation: There is a cycle in the linked list, where tail connects to the second node.

Example 2:

Input: head = [1,2], pos = 0
Output: tail connects to node index 0
Explanation: There is a cycle in the linked list, where tail connects to the first node.

Example 3:

Input: head = [1], pos = -1
Output: no cycle
Explanation: There is no cycle in the linked list.

Constraints:

The number of the nodes in the list is in the range [0, 10⁴].
-10⁵ <= Node.val <= 10⁵
pos is -1 or a valid index in the linked-list.

Follow up: Can you solve it using O(1) (i.e. constant) memory?

Video Solution

Java Solution

				
					public class Solution {
    public ListNode detectCycle(ListNode head) {
        if(head == null){
            return null;
        }

        ListNode fast = head ;
        ListNode slow = head ;
        ListNode ptr = head ;
        while(fast!=null && fast.next!=null){
            fast = fast.next.next;
            slow = slow.next;

            if(slow==fast){ // there is a cycle in ll

                while(ptr!=slow){
                    ptr = ptr.next;
                    slow = slow.next;
                }

                return ptr ;
            }
        }

        return null;
    }
}

Day 71 of 100 Days LeetCode Challenge