Delete Node in a BST in C++

Suppose we have a binary search tree. We will take one key k, and we have to delete the given key k from the BST, and return the updated BST. So if the tree is like −

And the key k = 3, then the output tree will be −

To solve this, we will follow these steps −

• Define a method called deleteRoot() to delete the root node, this will work as follows

• if root is null, then return null

• if root has no right subtree, then return left of root

• x := inorder successor of root

• set left of x as left := left of root

• return right of root

• The delete method will be like

• if root is null or value of root is key, then return deleteRoot(root)

• curr := root

• Create one infinite loop, and execute the following

  • x := value of curr node

  • if key < x, then

    • if left of curr = null or value of left of curr = key, then

      • left of curr := deleteRoot(left of curr) and come out from the loop.

    • curr := left of curr

  • otherwise

    • if right of curr = null or value of right of curr = key, then

      • right of curr := deleteRoot(right of curr) and come out from loop.

    • curr := right of curr

• return root

Let us see the following implementation to get better understanding −

Example

 Live Demo

#include <bits/stdc++.h>
using namespace std;
class TreeNode{
   public:
   int val;
   TreeNode *left, *right;
   TreeNode(int data){
      val = data;
      left = NULL;
      right = NULL;
   }
};
void insert(TreeNode **root, int val){
   queue<TreeNode*> q;
   q.push(*root);
   while(q.size()){
      TreeNode *temp = q.front();
      q.pop();
      if(!temp->left){
         if(val != NULL)
            temp->left = new TreeNode(val);
      else
         temp->left = new TreeNode(0);
         return;
      } else {
         q.push(temp->left);
      }
      if(!temp->right){
         if(val != NULL)
            temp->right = new TreeNode(val);
         else
            temp->right = new TreeNode(0);
         return;
      } else {
         q.push(temp->right);
      }
   }
}
TreeNode *make_tree(vector<int> v){
   TreeNode *root = new TreeNode(v[0]);
   for(int i = 1; i<v.size(); i++){
      insert(&root, v[i]);
   }
   return root;
}
void tree_level_trav(TreeNode*root){
   if (root == NULL) return;
      cout << "[";
   queue<TreeNode *> q;
   TreeNode *curr;
   q.push(root);
   q.push(NULL);
   while (q.size() > 1) {
      curr = q.front();
      q.pop();
      if (curr == NULL){
         q.push(NULL);
      }
      else {
         if(curr->left)
            q.push(curr->left);
         if(curr->right)
            q.push(curr->right);
         if(curr == NULL || curr->val == 0){
            cout << "null" << ", ";
         } else {
            cout << curr->val << ", ";
         }
      }
   }
   cout << "]"<<endl;
}
class Solution {
   public:
   TreeNode* deleteNode(TreeNode* root, int key) {
      if(root == NULL || root->val == key) return deleteRoot(root);
         TreeNode* curr = root;
      while(1) {
         int x = curr->val;
         if(key < x){
            if(curr->left == NULL || curr->left->val == key){
               curr->left = deleteRoot(curr->left);
               break;
            }
            curr = curr->left;
         } else {
            if(curr->right == NULL || curr->right->val == key){
               curr->right = deleteRoot(curr->right);
               break;
            }
            curr = curr->right;
         }
      }
      return root;
   }
   TreeNode* deleteRoot(TreeNode* root){
         if(!root || root->val == 0)return NULL;
            if(root->right == NULL) return root->left;
         TreeNode* x = root->right;
         while(x->left)x = x->left;
         x->left = root->left;
         return root->right;
      }
   };
main(){
   vector<int> v = {5,3,6,2,4,NULL,7};
   TreeNode *root = make_tree(v);
   Solution ob;
   tree_level_trav(ob.deleteNode(root, 3));
}

Input

[5,3,6,2,4,null,7]
3

Output

[5, 4, 6, 2, null, 7, ]