141. Linked List Cycle

• Difficulty: Easy

• Topics: Linked List, Two Pointers

• Similar Questions:

  • Linked List Cycle II

  • Happy Number

Problem:

Given a linked list, determine if it has a cycle in it.

To represent a cycle in the given linked list, we use an integer pos which represents the position (0-indexed) in the linked list where tail connects to. If pos is -1, then there is no cycle in the linked list.

Input: head = [3,2,0,-4], pos = 1
Output: true
Explanation: There is a cycle in the linked list, where tail connects to the second node.

Input: head = [1,2], pos = 0
Output: true
Explanation: There is a cycle in the linked list, where tail connects to the first node.

Input: head = [1], pos = -1
Output: false
Explanation: There is no cycle in the linked list.

Follow up:

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

Solutions:

/**
 * Definition for singly-linked list.
 * struct ListNode {
 *     int val;
 *     ListNode *next;
 *     ListNode(int x) : val(x), next(NULL) {}
 * };
 */
class Solution {
public:
    bool hasCycle(ListNode *head) {
        ListNode* fast = head;
        ListNode* slow = head;

        while (fast && fast->next) {
            fast = fast->next->next;
            slow = slow->next;
            if (fast == slow)   return true;
        }

        return false;
    }
};