LeetCode-in-All

142. Linked List Cycle II

Medium

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:

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

Solution

type ListNode struct {
	Val  int
	Next *ListNode
}

/**
 * Definition for singly-linked list.
 * type ListNode struct {
 *     Val int
 *     Next *ListNode
 * }
 */
func detectCycle(head *ListNode) *ListNode {
	if head == nil || head.Next == nil {
		return nil
	}
	slow := head
	fast := head
	for fast != nil && fast.Next != nil {
		fast = fast.Next.Next
		slow = slow.Next
		// intersected inside the loop.
		if slow == fast {
			break
		}
	}
	if fast == nil || fast.Next == nil {
		return nil
	}
	slow = head
	for slow != fast {
		slow = slow.Next
		fast = fast.Next
	}
	return slow
}