2. Merge Two Sorted Lists

Description

You are given the heads of two sorted linked lists list1 and list2.

Merge the two lists into one sorted list. The list should be made by splicing together the nodes of the first two lists.

Return the head of the merged linked list.

Example 1:

Input: list1 = [1,2,4], list2 = [1,3,4]
Output: [1,1,2,3,4,4]

Example 2:
Input: list1 = [], list2 = []
Output: []

Example 3:
Input: list1 = [], list2 = [0]
Output: [0]

Constraints:

• The number of nodes in both lists is in the range [0, 50].
• -100 <= Node.val <= 100
• Both list1 and list2 are sorted in non-decreasing order.

Approach

• Create dummy node to get the loop to start
• Check for smaller one and adjust next pointer and after loop is done there is possible one of the list still not fully iterated so add it to the last node after the loop
• Time: O(m + n) Space: O(1)

/**
 * Definition for singly-linked list.
 * public class ListNode {
 *     int val;
 *     ListNode next;
 *     ListNode() {}
 *     ListNode(int val) { this.val = val; }
 *     ListNode(int val, ListNode next) { this.val = val; this.next = next; }
 * }
 */
class Solution {
    public ListNode mergeTwoLists(ListNode list1, ListNode list2) {
        ListNode dummy = new ListNode();
        ListNode curr = dummy;
 
        while (list1 != null && list2 != null) {
            if (list1.val < list2.val) {
                curr.next = list1;
                list1 = list1.next;
            } else {
                curr.next = list2;
                list2 = list2.next;
            }
            curr = curr.next;
        }
 
        if (list1 != null)
            curr.next = list1;
        if (list2 != null)
            curr.next = list2;
 
        return dummy.next;        
    }
}