Delete Node in a Linked List

Problem

There is a singly-linked list head and we want to delete a node node in it.

You are given the node to be deleted node. You will not be given access to the first node of head.

All the values of the linked list are unique, and it is guaranteed that the given node node is not the last node in the linked list.

Delete the given node. Note that by deleting the node, we do not mean removing it from memory. We mean:

The value of the given node should not exist in the linked list. The number of nodes in the linked list should decrease by one. All the values before node should be in the same order. All the values after node should be in the same order.

Custom testing:

For the input, you should provide the entire linked list head and the node to be given node. node should not be the last node of the list and should be an actual node in the list. We will build the linked list and pass the node to your function. The output will be the entire list after calling your function.

Example 1:

Input: head = [4,5,1,9], node = 5
Output: [4,1,9]
Explanation: You are given the second node with value 5, the linked list should become 4 -> 1 -> 9 after calling your function.

Example 2:

Input: head = [4,5,1,9], node = 1
Output: [4,5,9]
Explanation: You are given the third node with value 1, the linked list should become 4 -> 5 -> 9 after calling your function.

Constraints:

  • The number of the nodes in the given list is in the range [2, 1000].
  • -1000 <= Node.val <= 1000
  • The value of each node in the list is unique.
  • The node to be deleted is in the list and is not a tail node.

Solution

So much prose for a braindead two-line solution.

class Solution {
    public void deleteNode(ListNode node) {
        node.val = node.next.val;
        node.next = node.next.next;
    }
}

Recent posts from blogs that I like

FBI Seizes NetNut Proxy Platform, Popa Botnet

The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) said today it worked with industry partners to seize hundreds of domains associated with NetNut, a sprawling residential proxy service operated by the publicly-traded Israeli company Alarum Technologies [NASDAQ: ALAR]. The action comes roughly two weeks afte...

via Krebs on Security

Brushstrokes: Portraits 1760-1877

Brushstrokes and painterly marks in the portraits of Gainsborough, Reynolds, Angelica Kauffmann, Jacques-Louis David and James Tissot.

via The Eclectic Light Company

Text AI watermarks will always be trivial to remove

The European Union AI Act will begin to be enforceable in August 2026, one month from now1. One of the biggest new requirements is Article 50, which requires all AI outputs to be “detectable as artificially generated”. In other words, if LLM providers want to do business in the EU, they will have to...

via Sean Goedecke