LeetCode 142. Linked List Cycle II

142. Linked List Cycle II

Difficulty: Medium

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

To represent a cycle in the given linked list, we use an integer pos which represents the position (0-indexed) in the linked list where tail connects to. If pos is -1, then there is no cycle in the linked list.

Note: 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.

Follow-up:
Can you solve it without using extra space?

Solution

Language: Java

/**
 * Definition for singly-linked list.
 * class ListNode {
 *     int val;
 *     ListNode next;
 *     ListNode(int x) {
 *         val = x;
 *         next = null;
 *     }
 * }
 */
public class Solution {
    public ListNode detectCycle(ListNode head) {
        if (head == null) {
            return null;
        }
        ListNode slow = head;
        ListNode fast = head;
        while (fast.next != null && fast.next.next != null) {
            fast = fast.next.next;
            slow = slow.next;
            if (fast == slow) {
                while (head != slow) {
                    head = head.next;
                    slow = slow.next;
                }
                return head;
            }
        }
        return null;
    }
}