Discover the final element in a singly linked list by navigating to the K-th position, only to be met

Currently tackling the challenge known as Finding the K-th last element of a singly linked list:

Your task is to create a function that, given the head of a singly linked list and an index (0 based) counted from the end of the list, returns the element at that index.

The function should return a falsy value for invalid input values, such as an out-of-range index.

For instance, in the list 66 -> 42 -> 13 -> 666, invoking getKthLastElement() with an index of 2 should yield the Node object corresponding to 42.

I'm puzzled because instead of a number, I keep getting undefined in my return. When testing this code on Codepen, everything seems fine and the result is a number. What could be causing the discrepancy?

function getKthLastElement(head, k) {
  let arr = [];
  while(head){
    arr.push(head.data);
    head = head.next;
  }
  if(k == 0) k = 1;
  let result = arr.splice(-k, 1);
  return +result;
}

Answer №1

As you review the code challenge, it becomes clear that the task is to retrieve the kth element, which is a Node instance and not just the value.

Therefore, instead of storing head.data, focus on collecting head. Also, ensure that the return statement denotes result[0] rather than +result.

Furthermore, there seems to be confusion regarding the value of k, assuming it starts from 1 when in fact it should start from 0 as specified in the description. It's important to always increment k by 1.

Lastly, the function should return a falsy value if k exceeds the range; however, the initial implementation lacks this provision.

Here's the revised code snippet:

function getKthLastElement(head, k) {
  let arr = [];
  while (head) {
    arr.push(head); // Store the node, not the value
    head = head.next;
  }

  if (k < 0 || k >= arr.length) return; // Out of range
  let result = arr.splice(-(k+1), 1); // Always add 1 to k 
  return result[0]; // Return the node.
}

The above solution works but isn't memory efficient as it involves converting the entire list into an array, consuming auxiliary space of O(n). It would be better to find a solution without using such an array.

If you're up for a spoiler, here's an alternative approach:

function getKthLastElement(head, k) {
   let lead = head;
   let lag = head;
   if (k < 0) return; // k is out of range
   for (let i = 0; i <= k; i++) {
     if (!lead) return; // k is out of range
     lead = lead.next;
   }
   while(lead) {
     lead = lead.next;
     lag = lag.next;
   }
   return lag;
 }

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