AlgoLounge

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 None.

There is a cycle in a linked list if some node in the list 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: pos is not passed as a parameter.

Do not modify the linked list.

Examples

Example 1

Input:  head = [3,2,0,-4], pos = 1
Output: Node at index 1

There is a cycle in the linked list, where tail connects to the second node (index 1).3 → 2 → 0 → -4 ↑ | └────────┘

Example 2

Input:  head = [1,2], pos = 0
Output: Node at index 0

There is a cycle in the linked list, where tail connects to the first node (index 0).1 → 2 ↑ | └───┘

Example 3

Input:  head = [1], pos = -1
Output: None

There is no cycle in the linked list.

Constraints

  • The number of nodes in the list is in the range [0, 10^4]
  • -10^5 <= Node.val <= 10^5
  • pos is -1 or a valid index in the linked list

How the tests work: pos is the index the tail links back to (-1: no cycle). It is only used to build the list — your function receives just head. The answer is the index of the node you return (null for no cycle).

TypeScript
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List of test cases (10)
Case 1
head = [3,2,0,-4]
pos = 1
Case 2
head = [1,2]
pos = 0
Case 3
head = [1]
pos = -1
Case 4
head = [1,2,3,4,5]
pos = -1
Case 5
head = [1,2,3,4,5]
pos = 2
Case 6
head = []
pos = -1
Case 7
head = [7,8,9,10]
pos = 3
Case 8
head = [5,6]
pos = -1
Case 9
head = [10,20,30]
pos = 0
Case 10
head = [100,200,300,400,500,600]
pos = 4