Flatten Multilevel List in Java (O(n) Time Complexity)

You are given a doubly linked list which in addition to the next and previous pointers, it could have a child pointer, which may or may not point to a separate doubly linked list. These child lists may have one or more children of their own, and so on, to produce a multilevel data structure, as shown in the example below.

Flatten the list so that all the nodes appear in a single-level, doubly linked list. You are given the head of the first level of the list.

Example 1:

Input: head = [1,2,3,4,5,6,null,null,null,7,8,9,10,null,null,11,12]
Output: [1,2,3,7,8,11,12,9,10,4,5,6]
Explanation:

The multilevel linked list in the input is as follows:



After flattening the multilevel linked list it becomes:

Example 2:

Input: head = [1,2,null,3]
Output: [1,3,2]
Explanation:

The input multilevel linked list is as follows:

  1---2---NULL
  |
  3---NULL

Example 3:

Input: head = []
Output: []

How multilevel linked list is represented in test case:

We use the multilevel linked list from Example 1 above:

 1---2---3---4---5---6--NULL
         |
         7---8---9---10--NULL
             |
             11--12--NULL

The serialization of each level is as follows:

[1,2,3,4,5,6,null]
[7,8,9,10,null]
[11,12,null]

To serialize all levels together we will add nulls in each level to signify no node connects to the upper node of the previous level. The serialization becomes:

[1,2,3,4,5,6,null]
[null,null,7,8,9,10,null]
[null,11,12,null]

Merging the serialization of each level and removing trailing nulls we obtain:

[1,2,3,4,5,6,null,null,null,7,8,9,10,null,null,11,12]

Note:

Your algorithm should be recursive and run in O(n) time.

Understanding the Problem

The core challenge of this problem is to traverse a multilevel doubly linked list and flatten it into a single-level doubly linked list. This involves handling the child pointers and ensuring that the order of nodes is maintained as specified.

Common applications of this problem include scenarios where hierarchical data structures need to be flattened for easier processing or visualization.

Potential pitfalls include not correctly handling the child pointers or losing track of the next pointers during the flattening process.

Approach

To solve this problem, we can use a recursive approach. The idea is to traverse the list and whenever a node with a child is encountered, recursively flatten the child list and merge it with the main list.

Initial naive solution might involve iterating through the list and using additional data structures to keep track of nodes, but this would not be optimal in terms of space complexity.

Optimized solution involves a recursive approach that ensures we traverse each node only once, achieving O(n) time complexity.

Algorithm

Here is a step-by-step breakdown of the recursive algorithm:

Start from the head of the list.
Traverse the list node by node.
If a node has a child, recursively flatten the child list.
Merge the flattened child list with the main list.
Continue until all nodes are processed.

Code Implementation

class Node {
    public int val;
    public Node prev;
    public Node next;
    public Node child;
}

public class FlattenMultilevelDoublyLinkedList {
    public Node flatten(Node head) {
        if (head == null) return head;
        
        Node pseudoHead = new Node();
        pseudoHead.next = head;
        flattenDFS(pseudoHead, head);
        
        pseudoHead.next.prev = null;
        return pseudoHead.next;
    }
    
    private Node flattenDFS(Node prev, Node curr) {
        if (curr == null) return prev;
        
        curr.prev = prev;
        prev.next = curr;
        
        Node tempNext = curr.next;
        
        Node tail = flattenDFS(curr, curr.child);
        curr.child = null;
        
        return flattenDFS(tail, tempNext);
    }
}

Complexity Analysis

The time complexity of the recursive approach is O(n), where n is the total number of nodes in the multilevel linked list. This is because each node is visited exactly once.

The space complexity is O(n) in the worst case due to the recursion stack.

Edge Cases

Potential edge cases include:

Empty list (head is null)
List with only one node
List where every node has a child

Each of these cases should be tested to ensure the algorithm handles them correctly.

Testing

To test the solution comprehensively, consider the following test cases:

Simple list with no children
List with one level of children
List with multiple levels of children
Edge cases as mentioned above

JUnit or any other testing framework can be used to automate these tests.

Thinking and Problem-Solving Tips

When approaching such problems, it is important to:

Understand the data structure and its properties
Break down the problem into smaller, manageable parts
Consider edge cases and how to handle them
Write clean, modular code with comments

Practicing similar problems and studying different algorithms can help improve problem-solving skills.

Conclusion

Flattening a multilevel doubly linked list is a common problem that tests understanding of linked lists and recursion. By following a structured approach, it is possible to solve this problem efficiently.

Understanding and solving such problems is crucial for developing strong problem-solving skills in computer science.

Additional Resources

For further reading and practice, consider the following resources: