Last Updated on May 23, 2022 by Ria Pathak
CONCEPTS USED:
Basic Pointer Manipulation
DIFFICULTY LEVEL:
Medium
PROBLEM STATEMENT(SIMPLIFIED):
Given a linked list of
Nnodes such that the list is sorted in two parts, the first part and second part are sorted in increasing order independently. Your task is to arrange the linked list in sorted manner.
See original problem statement here
For Example:
Input : 3 -> 4 -> 6 -> 7 -> 8 -> 2 -> 3 -> 4
Output : 2 -> 3 -> 3 -> 4 -> 4 -> 6 -> 7 -> 8
Explanation : 3 -> 4 -> 6 -> 7 -> 8 and 2 -> 3 -> 4 were separately sorted two list which we have combined to form a single sorted list as 2 -> 3 -> 3 -> 4 -> 4 -> 6 -> 7 -> 8.OBSERVATION :
The problem can be seen as merging two sorted linked list in-place i.e. without using any extra space.
SOLVING APPROACH:
We already have the
headof our first list as theheadof our original list, now we need to learn online programming courses to find theheadof the second list, this can be easily done by traversing the list and checking wherever theithnode value becomes greater than the(i+1)thnode value. Then(i+1)thnode is ourheadpointer for the second list.Now create a new
newHeadthat will point to our newly created list.Now Keep traversing the former two lists simultaneously, and appending the smaller node out of the two in the new list. Also increment the pointer of the smaller node to point to the next node.
In this way all the elements from both the list will be appended to the new list. Keep doing this process till any of the list becomes empty, then append all the remaining nodes to the new list.
ALGORITHM :
SOLUTIONS:
#include <stdio.h>
#include <stdlib.h>
#include <string.h>
typedef struct Node
{
int value;
struct Node* next;
}Node;
Node* CreateNode(Node *head, int val)
{
Node *newnode = (struct Node*)malloc(sizeof(struct Node));
newnode->value = val ;
newnode->next = NULL ;
static Node *temp;
if ( head == NULL ) {
head = newnode ;
temp=head;
}
else
{
temp->next = newnode ;
temp =temp->next;
}
return head ;
}
void printList(Node *head) {
Node *temp = head ;
if (temp) {
while ( temp!= NULL ) {
printf ( "%d ", temp->value ) ;
temp = temp->next ;
}
}
}
Node* RearrangeLists(Node* head)
{
/* if head contains 0 or 1 elements */
if(head == NULL || head->next == NULL)
return head;
Node *temp = head;
Node *part = NULL;
Node *partition = NULL;
/* findint the point of partition between two head */
while(temp->next != NULL){
if(temp->value > temp->next->value){
part = temp;
partition = temp->next;
break;
}
temp = temp->next;
}
/* if there exits no partition */
if(partition == NULL)
return head;
/* set last element of head 1 to point to NULL */
part->next = NULL;
/* Now we have two different head */
Node *p = head;
Node *q = partition;
Node *sorting = NULL;
if(p != NULL && q != NULL){
if(p->value < q->value){
sorting = p;
p = p->next;
}
else{
sorting = q;
q = q->next;
}
}
/* Head of the new linked head */
Node *newHead = sorting;
while(p != NULL && q != NULL){
if(p->value < q->value){
sorting->next = p;
sorting = p;
p = p->next;
}
else{
sorting->next = q;
sorting = q;
q = q->next;
}
}
if(p == NULL) sorting->next = q;
if(q == NULL) sorting->next = p;
return newHead;
}
int main() {
int t;
scanf("%d", &t);
while(t--){
Node *head = NULL, *temp ;
int size,val;
scanf("%d", &size);
for ( int i = 0 ; i < size ; i ++ ) {
scanf("%d", &val);
head = CreateNode(head, val) ;
}
temp = RearrangeLists(head) ;
printList(temp);
printf("\n");
}
return 0;
}
#include <bits/stdc++.h>
using namespace std;
typedef struct Node
{
int data;
struct Node* next;
}Node;
Node* CreateNode(Node *head, int val)
{
Node *newnode = new Node;
newnode->data = val ;
newnode->next = NULL ;
static Node *temp;
if ( head == NULL ) {
head = newnode ;
temp=head;
}
else
{
temp->next = newnode ;
temp =temp->next;
}
return head ;
}
void printList(Node *head) {
Node *temp = head ;
if (temp) {
while ( temp!= NULL ) {
cout<<temp->data<<" ";
temp = temp->next ;
}
}
}
Node* RearrangeLists(Node* list)
{
if(list == NULL || list->next == NULL)
return list;
Node *temp = list;
Node *part = NULL;
Node *partition = NULL;
int f = 0;
/* findint the point of partition between two list */
while(temp->next != NULL){
if(temp->data > temp->next->data){
part = temp;
partition = temp->next;
break;
}
temp = temp->next;
}
/* if there exits no partition */
if(partition == NULL)
return list;
/* set last element of list 1 to point to NULL */
part->next = NULL;
/* Now we have two different list */
Node *p = list;
Node *q = partition;
Node *sorting = NULL;
if(p != NULL && q != NULL){
if(p->data < q->data){
sorting = p;
p = p->next;
}
else{
sorting = q;
q = q->next;
}
}
/* Head of the new linked list */
Node *head = sorting;
while(p != NULL && q != NULL){
if(p->data < q->data){
sorting->next = p;
sorting = p;
p = p->next;
}
else{
sorting->next = q;
sorting = q;
q = q->next;
}
}
if(p == NULL) sorting->next = q;
if(q == NULL) sorting->next = p;
return head;
}
int main() {
int t;
cin>>t;
while(t--){
Node *head = NULL, *temp ;
int size,val;
cin>>size;
for ( int i = 0 ; i < size ; i ++ ) {
cin>>val;
head = CreateNode(head, val) ;
}
temp =RearrangeLists(head) ;
if ( temp != NULL )
printList(temp);
cout<<endl;
}
return 0;
}
import java.io.*;
import java.util.*;
public class Main {
static class SinglyLinkedListNode {
public int value;
public SinglyLinkedListNode next;
public SinglyLinkedListNode(int nodeData) {
this.value = nodeData;
this.next = null;
}
}
static class SinglyLinkedList {
public SinglyLinkedListNode head;
public SinglyLinkedListNode tail;
public SinglyLinkedList() {
this.head = null;
this.tail = null;
}
public void insertNode(int nodeData) {
SinglyLinkedListNode node = new SinglyLinkedListNode(nodeData);
if (this.head == null) {
this.head = node;
} else {
this.tail.next = node;
}
this.tail = node;
}
}
static void printLinkedList(SinglyLinkedListNode head) {
SinglyLinkedListNode temp = head;
while (temp != null) {
System.out.print(temp.value + " ");
temp = temp.next;
}
}
static SinglyLinkedListNode RearrangeLists(SinglyLinkedListNode list)
{
/* if list contains 0 or 1 elements */
if(list == null || list.next == null)
return list;
SinglyLinkedListNode temp = list;
SinglyLinkedListNode part = null;
SinglyLinkedListNode partition = null;
/* findint the point of partition between two list */
while(temp.next != null){
if(temp.value > temp.next.value){
part = temp;
partition = temp.next;
break;
}
temp = temp.next;
}
/* if there exits no partition */
if(partition == null)
return list;
/* set last element of list 1 to point to null */
part.next = null;
/* Now we have two different list */
SinglyLinkedListNode p = list;
SinglyLinkedListNode q = partition;
SinglyLinkedListNode sorting = null;
if(p != null && q != null){
if(p.value < q.value){
sorting = p;
p = p.next;
}
else{
sorting = q;
q = q.next;
}
}
/* Head of the new linked list */
SinglyLinkedListNode head = sorting;
while(p != null && q != null){
if(p.value < q.value){
sorting.next = p;
sorting = p;
p = p.next;
}
else{
sorting.next = q;
sorting = q;
q = q.next;
}
}
if(p == null) sorting.next = q;
if(q == null) sorting.next = p;
return head;
}
private static final Scanner scanner = new Scanner(System.in);
public static void main(String[] args) throws IOException {
int testCases = scanner.nextInt();
while (testCases-- > 0) {
SinglyLinkedList llist = new SinglyLinkedList();
int size = scanner.nextInt();
for (int i = 0; i < size; i++) {
int val = scanner.nextInt();
llist.insertNode(val);
}
SinglyLinkedListNode temp = RearrangeLists(llist.head);
printLinkedList(temp);
System.out.print("\n");
}
}
}
Space Complexity:
O(1)
[forminator_quiz id=”2133″]
This article tried to discuss Basic Pointer Manipulation. Hope this blog helps you understand and solve the problem. To practice more problems on Basic Pointer Manipulation you can check out MYCODE | Competitive Programming.