LeetCode Hot 100 P142 Linked List Cycle II

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Timeline

timeline

2026-03-13

init

linked list, two pointers

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Problem:

P142 Linked List Cycle II

https://leetcode.cn/problems/linked-list-cycle-ii/description/?envType=study-plan-v2&envId=top-100-liked

First meeting, fast pointer has moved2 * ksteps, slow pointer has moved k steps, let length outside cycle be m, cycle length L

Fast pointer has gone n more laps(nL) i.e.k = nL, i.e. slow pointer has movednLsteps

Slow pointer then moves m more steps, totalm+nLsteps to reachm+nL= cycle entrance

Note that the following loop should not use do while, because a linked list may be a circular linked list, and the length outside the cycle is 0

/**
 * Definition for singly-linked list.
 * struct ListNode {
 *     int val;
 *     ListNode *next;
 *     ListNode(int x) : val(x), next(NULL) {}
 * };
 */

struct ListNode {
        int val;
        ListNode *next;
        ListNode(int x)
                : val(x)
                , next(nullptr)
        {
        }
};

class Solution {
    public:
        ListNode *detectCycle(ListNode *head)
        {
                if (head == nullptr)
                        return nullptr;
                ListNode *low = head, *fast = head;

                do {
                        if (fast->next == nullptr || fast->next->next == nullptr)
                                return nullptr;

                        fast = fast->next->next;
                        low = low->next;

                } while (low != fast);

                // low == fast

                low = head;
                while (low != fast) {
                        fast = fast->next;
                        low = low->next;
                }

                return low;
        }
};