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Sort a linked list in O(n log n) time using constant space complexity.

Hide Tags  Linked List Sort Hide Similar Problems  (E) Merge Two Sorted Lists (M) Sort Colors (M) Insertion Sort List

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// 12/23/2016 lake tahoe
public class SortList {
  public ListNode sortList(ListNode head) {
    if (head == null || head.next == null)
      return head;
        
    // step 1. cut the list to two halves
    ListNode prev = null, slow = head, fast = head;
    
    while (fast != null && fast.next != null) {
      prev = slow;
      slow = slow.next;
      fast = fast.next.next;
    }
    
    prev.next = null;
    
    // step 2. sort each half
    ListNode l1 = sortList(head);
    ListNode l2 = sortList(slow);
    
    // step 3. merge l1 and l2
    return merge(l1, l2);
  }
  
  ListNode merge(ListNode l1, ListNode l2) {
    ListNode l = new ListNode(0), p = l;
    
    while (l1 != null && l2 != null) {
      if (l1.val < l2.val) {
        p.next = l1;
        l1 = l1.next;
      } else {
        p.next = l2;
        l2 = l2.next;
      }
      p = p.next;
    }
    
    if (l1 != null)
      p.next = l1;
    
    if (l2 != null)
      p.next = l2;
    
    return l.next;
  }
 }