Find length of loop in linked list

Write a function detectAndCountLoop() that checks whether a given Linked List contains loop and if loop is present then returns count of nodes in loop. For example, loop is present in below linked list and length of loop is 4. If loop is not present, then function should return 0.

Recommended: Please try your approach on {IDE} first, before moving on to the solution.

We know that Floyd’s Cycle detection algorithm terminates when fast and slow pointers meet at a common point. We also know that this common point is one of the loop nodes (2 or 3 or 4 or 5 in the above diagram). We store the address of this common point in a pointer variable say ptr. Then we initialize a counter with 1 and start from the common point and keeps on visiting next node and increasing the counter till we again reach the common point(ptr). At that point, the value of the counter will be equal to the length of the loop.

C

// C program to count number of nodes 
// in loop in a linked list if loop is 
// present 
#include<stdio.h> 
#include<stdlib.h> 
  
/* Link list node */
struct Node 
{ 
    int data; 
    struct Node* next; 
}; 
  
// Returns count of nodes present in loop. 
int countNodes(struct Node *n) 
{ 
   int res = 1; 
   struct Node *temp = n; 
   while (temp->next != n) 
   { 
      res++; 
      temp = temp->next; 
   } 
   return res; 
} 
  
/* This function detects and counts loop 
   nodes in the list. If loop is not there 
   in then returns 0 */
int countNodesinLoop(struct Node *list) 
{ 
    struct Node  *slow_p = list, *fast_p = list; 
  
    while (slow_p && fast_p && fast_p->next) 
    { 
        slow_p = slow_p->next; 
        fast_p  = fast_p->next->next; 
  
        /* If slow_p and fast_p meet at some point 
           then there is a loop */
        if (slow_p == fast_p) 
            return countNodes(slow_p); 
    } 
  
    /* Return 0 to indeciate that ther is no loop*/
    return 0; 
} 
  
struct Node *newNode(int key) 
{ 
    struct Node *temp = 
        (struct Node*)malloc(sizeof(struct Node)); 
    temp->data = key; 
    temp->next = NULL; 
    return temp; 
} 
  
/* Driver program to test above function*/
int main() 
{ 
    struct Node *head = newNode(1); 
    head->next = newNode(2); 
    head->next->next = newNode(3); 
    head->next->next->next = newNode(4); 
    head->next->next->next->next = newNode(5); 
  
    /* Create a loop for testing */
    head->next->next->next->next->next = head->next; 
  
    printf("%d \n", countNodesinLoop(head)); 
  
    return 0; 
} 

Java

// Java program to count number of nodes  
// in loop in a linked list if loop is  
// present  
import java.io.*; 
  
class GFG { 
      
  
/* Link list node */
static class Node  
{  
    int data; 
    Node next; 
    Node(int data) 
    { 
        this.data =data; 
        next =null; 
    } 
} 
  
// Returns count of nodes present in loop.  
static int countNodes( Node n)  
{  
int res = 1;  
Node temp = n;  
while (temp.next != n)  
{  
    res++;  
    temp = temp.next;  
}  
return res;  
}  
  
/* This function detects and counts loop  
nodes in the list. If loop is not there  
in then returns 0 */
static int countNodesinLoop( Node list)  
{  
    Node slow_p = list, fast_p = list;  
  
    while (slow_p !=null && fast_p!=null && fast_p.next!=null)  
    {  
        slow_p = slow_p.next;  
        fast_p = fast_p.next.next;  
  
        /* If slow_p and fast_p meet at some point  
        then there is a loop */
        if (slow_p == fast_p)  
            return countNodes(slow_p);  
    }  
  
    /* Return 0 to indeciate that ther is no loop*/
    return 0;  
}  
  
static Node newNode(int key)  
{  
    Node temp = new Node(key); 
      
    return temp;  
}  
  
/* Driver program to test above function*/
    public static void main (String[] args) { 
        Node head = newNode(1);  
    head.next = newNode(2);  
    head.next.next = newNode(3);  
    head.next.next.next = newNode(4);  
    head.next.next.next.next = newNode(5);  
  
    /* Create a loop for testing */
    head.next.next.next.next.next = head.next;  
  
    System.out.println( countNodesinLoop(head));  
    } 
} 
// This code is contributed by inder_verma. 

Output :

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