2181. Merge Nodes in Between Zeros

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You are given the head of a linked list, which contains a series of integers separated by 0's. The beginning and end of the linked list will have Node.val == 0.

For every two consecutive 0's, merge all the nodes lying in between them into a single node whose value is the sum of all the merged nodes. The modified list should not contain any 0's.

Return the head of the modified linked list.

 

Example 1:

Input: head = [0,3,1,0,4,5,2,0]
Output: [4,11]
Explanation: 
The above figure represents the given linked list. The modified list contains
- The sum of the nodes marked in green: 3 + 1 = 4.
- The sum of the nodes marked in red: 4 + 5 + 2 = 11.

Example 2:

Input: head = [0,1,0,3,0,2,2,0]
Output: [1,3,4]
Explanation: 
The above figure represents the given linked list. The modified list contains
- The sum of the nodes marked in green: 1 = 1.
- The sum of the nodes marked in red: 3 = 3.
- The sum of the nodes marked in yellow: 2 + 2 = 4.

 

Constraints:

  • The number of nodes in the list is in the range [3, 2 * 105].
  • 0 <= Node.val <= 1000
  • There are no two consecutive nodes with Node.val == 0.
  • The beginning and end of the linked list have Node.val == 0.

Hints

Hint 1
How can you use two pointers to modify the original list into the new list?
Hint 2
Have a pointer traverse the entire linked list, while another pointer looks at a node that is currently being modified.
Hint 3
Keep on summing the values of the nodes between the traversal pointer and the modifying pointer until the former comes across a ‘0’. In that case, the modifying pointer is incremented to modify the next node.
Hint 4
Do not forget to have the next pointer of the final node of the modified list point to null.

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