21. Merge Two Sorted Lists

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.



Solution:

Method 1: iterative

Implementation is straightforward.



Code:

/**
 * Definition for singly-linked list.
 * public class ListNode {
 *     int val;
 *     ListNode next;
 *     ListNode(int x) { val = x; }
 * }
 */
public class Solution {
    public ListNode mergeTwoLists(ListNode l1, ListNode l2) {
        if (l1 == null) {
            return l2;
        }
        if (l2 == null) {
            return l1;
        }
        ListNode dummy = new ListNode(0);
        ListNode curr = dummy;
        while (l1 != null && l2 != null) {
            if (l1.val < l2.val) {
                curr.next = l1;
                l1 = l1.next;
            }
            else {
                curr.next = l2;
                l2 = l2.next;
            }
            curr = curr.next;
        }
        if (l1 != null) {
            curr.next = l1;
        }
        else {
            curr.next = l2;
        }
        return dummy.next;
    }
}

Method 2: recursive



Code:

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