【刷题】LC-23：合并K个有序链表

思路：归并排序

类似于归并排序，如下图，这里使用自底向上归并排序，每一行代表当前还剩余多少链表没有被合并，当最终合并成一个链表时，就是答案。这里合并两个链表会用到：Leetcode 0021 合并两个有序链表。

可读性较强的写法：

class Solution {
    public ListNode mergeKLists(ListNode[] lists) {
        return merge(lists, 0, lists.length - 1);
    }

    public ListNode merge(ListNode[] lists, int l, int r) {
        if (l == r) {
            return lists[l];
        }
        if (l > r) {
            return null;
        }
        int mid = (l + r) >> 1;
        return mergeTwoLists(merge(lists, l, mid), merge(lists, mid + 1, r));
    }

    public ListNode mergeTwoLists(ListNode a, ListNode b) {
        if (a == null || b == null) {
            return a != null ? a : b;
        }
        ListNode head = new ListNode(0);
        ListNode tail = head, aPtr = a, bPtr = b;
        while (aPtr != null && bPtr != null) {
            if (aPtr.val < bPtr.val) {
                tail.next = aPtr;
                aPtr = aPtr.next;
            } else {
                tail.next = bPtr;
                bPtr = bPtr.next;
            }
            tail = tail.next;
        }
        tail.next = (aPtr != null ? aPtr : bPtr);
        return head.next;
    }
}

或者使用堆：

class Solution {
    class Status implements Comparable<Status> {
        int val;
        ListNode ptr;

        Status(int val, ListNode ptr) {
            this.val = val;
            this.ptr = ptr;
        }

        public int compareTo(Status status2) {
            return this.val - status2.val;
        }
    }

    PriorityQueue<Status> queue = new PriorityQueue<Status>();

    public ListNode mergeKLists(ListNode[] lists) {
        for (ListNode node: lists) {
            if (node != null) {
                queue.offer(new Status(node.val, node));
            }
        }
        ListNode head = new ListNode(0);
        ListNode tail = head;
        while (!queue.isEmpty()) {
            Status f = queue.poll();
            tail.next = f.ptr;
            tail = tail.next;
            if (f.ptr.next != null) {
                queue.offer(new Status(f.ptr.next.val, f.ptr.next));
            }
        }
        return head.next;
    }
}