I was recently brushing up on some fundamentals and found merge sorting a linked list to be a pretty good challenge. If you have a good implementation then show it off here.
19 Answers
One interesting way is to maintain a stack, and only merge if the list on the stack has the same number of elements, and otherwise push the list, until you run out of elements in the incoming list, and then merge up the stack.
The simplest is from Gonnet + Baeza Yates Handbook of Algorithms. You call it with the number of sorted elements you want, which recursively gets bisected until it reaches a request for a size one list which you then just peel off the front of the original list. These all get merged up into a full sized sorted list.
[Note that the cool stack-based one in the first post is called the Online Mergesort and it gets the tiniest mention in an exercise in Knuth Vol 3]
A tested, working C++ version of single linked list, based on the highest voted answer.
singlelinkedlist.h:
#pragma once
#include <stdexcept>
#include <iostream>
#include <initializer_list>
namespace ythlearn{
template<typename T>
class Linkedlist{
public:
class Node{
public:
Node* next;
T elem;
};
Node head;
int _size;
public:
Linkedlist(){
head.next = nullptr;
_size = 0;
}
Linkedlist(std::initializer_list<T> init_list){
head.next = nullptr;
_size = 0;
for(auto s = init_list.begin(); s!=init_list.end(); s++){
push_left(*s);
}
}
int size(){
return _size;
}
bool isEmpty(){
return size() == 0;
}
bool isSorted(){
Node* n_ptr = head.next;
while(n_ptr->next != nullptr){
if(n_ptr->elem > n_ptr->next->elem)
return false;
n_ptr = n_ptr->next;
}
return true;
}
Linkedlist& push_left(T elem){
Node* n = new Node;
n->elem = elem;
n->next = head.next;
head.next = n;
++_size;
return *this;
}
void print(){
Node* loopPtr = head.next;
while(loopPtr != nullptr){
std::cout << loopPtr->elem << " ";
loopPtr = loopPtr->next;
}
std::cout << std::endl;
}
void call_merge(){
head.next = merge_sort(head.next);
}
Node* merge_sort(Node* n){
if(n == nullptr || n->next == nullptr)
return n;
Node* middle = getMiddle(n);
Node* left_head = n;
Node* right_head = middle->next;
middle->next = nullptr;
return merge(merge_sort(left_head), merge_sort(right_head));
}
Node* getMiddle(Node* n){
if(n == nullptr)
return n;
Node* slow, *fast;
slow = fast = n;
while(fast->next != nullptr && fast->next->next != nullptr){
slow = slow->next;
fast = fast->next->next;
}
return slow;
}
Node* merge(Node* a, Node* b){
Node dummyHead;
Node* current = &dummyHead;
while(a != nullptr && b != nullptr){
if(a->elem < b->elem){
current->next = a;
a = a->next;
}else{
current->next = b;
b = b->next;
}
current = current->next;
}
current->next = (a == nullptr) ? b : a;
return dummyHead.next;
}
Linkedlist(const Linkedlist&) = delete;
Linkedlist& operator=(const Linkedlist&) const = delete;
~Linkedlist(){
Node* node_to_delete;
Node* ptr = head.next;
while(ptr != nullptr){
node_to_delete = ptr;
ptr = ptr->next;
delete node_to_delete;
}
}
};
}
main.cpp:
#include <iostream>
#include <cassert>
#include "singlelinkedlist.h"
using namespace std;
using namespace ythlearn;
int main(){
Linkedlist<int> l = {3,6,-5,222,495,-129,0};
l.print();
l.call_merge();
l.print();
assert(l.isSorted());
return 0;
}
I don't see any C++ solutions posted here. So, here it goes. Hope it helps someone.
class Solution {
public:
ListNode *merge(ListNode *left, ListNode *right){
ListNode *head = NULL, *temp = NULL;
// Find which one is the head node for the merged list
if(left->val <= right->val){
head = left, temp = left;
left = left->next;
}
else{
head = right, temp = right;
right = right->next;
}
while(left && right){
if(left->val <= right->val){
temp->next = left;
temp = left;
left = left->next;
}
else{
temp->next = right;
temp = right;
right = right->next;
}
}
// If some elements still left in the left or the right list
if(left)
temp->next = left;
if(right)
temp->next = right;
return head;
}
ListNode* sortList(ListNode* head){
if(!head || !head->next)
return head;
// Find the length of the list
int length = 0;
ListNode *temp = head;
while(temp){
length++;
temp = temp->next;
}
// Reset temp
temp = head;
// Store half of it in left and the other half in right
// Create two lists and sort them
ListNode *left = temp, *prev = NULL;
int i = 0, mid = length / 2;
// Left list
while(i < mid){
prev = temp;
temp = temp->next;
i++;
}
// The end of the left list should point to NULL
if(prev)
prev->next = NULL;
// Right list
ListNode *right = temp;
// Sort left list
ListNode *sortedLeft = sortList(left);
// Sort right list
ListNode *sortedRight = sortList(right);
// Merge them
ListNode *sortedList = merge(sortedLeft, sortedRight);
return sortedList;
}
};
Here is the Java Implementation of Merge Sort on Linked List:
- Time Complexity: O(n.logn)
- Space Complexity: O(1) - Merge sort implementation on Linked List avoids the O(n) auxiliary storage cost normally associated with the algorithm
class Solution
{
public ListNode mergeSortList(ListNode head)
{
if(head == null || head.next == null)
return head;
ListNode mid = getMid(head), second_head = mid.next; mid.next = null;
return merge(mergeSortList(head), mergeSortList(second_head));
}
private ListNode merge(ListNode head1, ListNode head2)
{
ListNode result = new ListNode(0), current = result;
while(head1 != null && head2 != null)
{
if(head1.val < head2.val)
{
current.next = head1;
head1 = head1.next;
}
else
{
current.next = head2;
head2 = head2.next;
}
current = current.next;
}
if(head1 != null) current.next = head1;
if(head2 != null) current.next = head2;
return result.next;
}
private ListNode getMid(ListNode head)
{
ListNode slow = head, fast = head.next;
while(fast != null && fast.next != null)
{
slow = slow.next;
fast = fast.next.next;
}
return slow;
}
}
Simplest Java Implementation:
Time Complexity: O(nLogn) n = number of nodes. Each iteration through the linked list doubles the size of the sorted smaller linked lists. For example, after the first iteration, the linked list will be sorted into two halves. After the second iteration, the linked list will be sorted into four halves. It will keep sorting up to the size of the linked list. This will take O(logn) doublings of the small linked lists' sizes to reach the original linked list size. The n in nlogn is there because each iteration of the linked list will take time proportional to the number of nodes in the originial linked list.
class Node {
int data;
Node next;
Node(int d) {
data = d;
}
}
class LinkedList {
Node head;
public Node mergesort(Node head) {
if(head == null || head.next == null) return head;
Node middle = middle(head), middle_next = middle.next;
middle.next = null;
Node left = mergesort(head), right = mergesort(middle_next), node = merge(left, right);
return node;
}
public Node merge(Node first, Node second) {
Node node = null;
if (first == null) return second;
else if (second == null) return first;
else if (first.data <= second.data) {
node = first;
node.next = merge(first.next, second);
} else {
node = second;
node.next = merge(first, second.next);
}
return node;
}
public Node middle(Node head) {
if (head == null) return head;
Node second = head, first = head.next;
while(first != null) {
first = first.next;
if (first != null) {
second = second.next;
first = first.next;
}
}
return second;
}
}
Hey I know that this is a bit late an answer but got a fast simple one.
The code is in F# but will goes in any language. Since this is an uncommen language of the ML family, I'll give some point to enhance the readability. F# are nesting done by tabulating. the last line of code in a function (nested part) are the return value. (x, y) is a tuple, x::xs is a list of the head x and tail xs (where xs can be empty), |> take the result of last line an pipe it as argument to the expression right of it (readability enhancing) and last (fun args -> some expression) are a lambda function.
// split the list into a singleton list
let split list = List.map (fun x -> [x]) lst
// takes to list and merge them into a sorted list
let sort lst1 lst2 =
// nested function to hide accumulator
let rec s acc pair =
match pair with
// empty list case, return the sorted list
| [], [] -> List.rev acc
| xs, [] | [], xs ->
// one empty list case,
// append the rest of xs onto acc and return the sorted list
List.fold (fun ys y -> y :: ys) acc xs
|> List.rev
// general case
| x::xs, y::ys ->
match x < y with
| true -> // cons x onto the accumulator
s (x::acc) (xs,y::ys)
| _ ->
// cons y onto the accumulator
s (y::acc) (x::xs,ys)
s [] (lst1, lst2)
let msort lst =
let rec merge acc lst =
match lst with
| [] ->
match acc with
| [] -> [] // empty list case
| _ -> merge [] acc
| x :: [] -> // single list case (x is a list)
match acc with
| [] -> x // since acc are empty there are only x left, hence x are the sorted list.
| _ -> merge [] (x::acc) // still need merging.
| x1 :: x2 :: xs ->
// merge the lists x1 and x2 and add them to the acummulator. recursiv call
merge (sort x1 x2 :: acc) xs
// return part
split list // expand to singleton list list
|> merge [] // merge and sort recursively.
It is important to notice that this is fully tail recursive so no possibility of stack overflow, and by first expanding the list to a singleton list list in one go we, lower the constant factor on the worst cost. Since merge are working on list of list, we can recursively merge and sort the inner list until we get to the fix point where all inner list are sorted into one list and then we return that list, hence collapsing from a list list to a list again.
Here is the solution using Swift Programming Language.
//Main MergeSort Function
func mergeSort(head: Node?) -> Node? {
guard let head = head else { return nil }
guard let _ = head.next else { return head }
let middle = getMiddle(head: head)
let left = head
let right = middle.next
middle.next = nil
return merge(left: mergeSort(head: left), right: mergeSort(head: right))
}
//Merge Function
func merge(left: Node?, right: Node?) -> Node? {
guard let left = left, let right = right else { return nil}
let dummyHead: Node = Node(value: 0)
var current: Node? = dummyHead
var currentLeft: Node? = left
var currentRight: Node? = right
while currentLeft != nil && currentRight != nil {
if currentLeft!.value < currentRight!.value {
current?.next = currentLeft
currentLeft = currentLeft!.next
} else {
current?.next = currentRight
currentRight = currentRight!.next
}
current = current?.next
}
if currentLeft != nil {
current?.next = currentLeft
}
if currentRight != nil {
current?.next = currentRight
}
return dummyHead.next!
}
And here are the Node Class & getMiddle Method
class Node {
//Node Class which takes Integers as value
var value: Int
var next: Node?
init(value: Int) {
self.value = value
}
}
func getMiddle(head: Node) -> Node {
guard let nextNode = head.next else { return head }
var slow: Node = head
var fast: Node? = head
while fast?.next?.next != nil {
slow = slow.next!
fast = fast!.next?.next
}
return slow
}
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