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Interview Camp: Level: Medium Is Palindrome: Given A Linked List, Determine If It Is A Palindrome

The document provides a solution to determine if a singly linked list is a palindrome by reversing the second half of the list. It first finds the middle node using a slow and fast pointer approach. It then reverses the nodes from the middle to the end. Finally, it uses two pointers starting from the beginning and reversed end to check if the values are equal moving inward.

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122 views3 pages

Interview Camp: Level: Medium Is Palindrome: Given A Linked List, Determine If It Is A Palindrome

The document provides a solution to determine if a singly linked list is a palindrome by reversing the second half of the list. It first finds the middle node using a slow and fast pointer approach. It then reverses the nodes from the middle to the end. Finally, it uses two pointers starting from the beginning and reversed end to check if the values are equal moving inward.

Uploaded by

abhi74
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Interview Camp 

 
Technique: Reverse a Linked List 

Level: Medium 

Is Palindrome: Given a Linked List, determine if it is a Palindrome.  


 
For example, the following lists are palindromes: 
A -> B -> C -> B -> A 
A -> B -> B -> A 
K -> A -> Y -> A -> K 
 
Note​: Do it with O(N) time and O(1) space? (Hint: Reverse a part of the list) 
 
Questions to Clarify: 
Q. Is this a singly linked list? 
A. Yes, there is no previous pointer. 
 
Q. Can we modify the input list? 
A. Yes 
 
Q. Do we need to restore the list after modifying it? 
A. No need, you can leave it as you wish. 
 
Q. What if the list is empty? 
A. Return false 

Solution: 
We need to check if the first and last elements are equal, and then move inwards. 
Currently, we cannot do that, because there is no previous pointer. 
 
To do that, we need to reverse the second half of the list. We have already implemented 
the reverse function in the lecture solution. If we reverse the second half of the list,  
It will look as follows: 
 
K -> A -> Y <- A <- K 
 
Now, we can make 2 pointers at either end of the list and move them inwards to verify. 
 
In order to reverse the second half, we will need to find the middle element of the list. 
 
There are two ways to do this: 
1. Count the number of nodes in the list. Then move to the middle node. 
2. Make a ​slow​ and ​fast​ pointer. Advance the ​fast​ pointer 2 nodes at a time, and the ​slow 
pointer 1 node at a time. When ​fast​ reaches the end of the list, ​slow​ should be at the 
middle element. 
   

 
 
©​ 2017 Interview Camp (interviewcamp.io) 
 
Interview Camp 

Both these approaches are fine. We'll implement the second approach here, but you can stick to the 
first approach for simplicity. 

Pseudocode: 
(Note: Never write pseudocode in an actual interview. Unless you're writing a few
lines quickly to plan out your solution. Your actual solution should be in a real
language and use good syntax.)

isPalindrome(Node head):
Node middle = findMedian(head)
last = reverse(middle)

start = head, end = last


while (start != null && end != null) {
if (start.data != end.data)
return false

start = start.next;
end = end.next;
}
return true // reached end

// Note: for lists of even size, our median element will be floor(n/2),
// which is ok.
findMedian(head):
fast = head, slow = head

while fast.next != null


fast = fast.next
if fast.next == null:
break
fast = fast.next
slow = slow.next

return slow

Test Cases:  
Edge Cases: empty list 
Base Cases: single element, 2 elements (palindrome/not palindrome) 
Regular Cases: even and odd elements (palindrome/not palindrome) 

Time Complexity: O(n) 

Space Complexity: O(1) 


 
 

 
 
©​ 2017 Interview Camp (interviewcamp.io) 
 
Interview Camp 

public static boolean isPalindrome(Node head) {


if (head == null)
return false;

Node median = findMedian(head);


Node last = reverse(median);
Node start = head, end = last;
while (start != null && end != null) {
if (start.data != end.data)
return false;

start = start.next;
end = end.next;
}
return true;
}

public static Node findMedian(Node head) {


Node fast = head, slow = head;
while (fast.next != null) {
fast = fast.next;
if (fast.next == null)
break;
fast = fast.next;
slow = slow.next;
}
return slow;
}

/* This function is taken from the lecture solution */


public static Node reverse(Node head) {
Node prev = null, curr = head;
while (curr != null) {
Node next = curr.getNext();
curr.setNext(prev);
prev = curr;
curr = next;
}
return prev;
}
 

 
 
©​ 2017 Interview Camp (interviewcamp.io) 

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