Post

Leetcode 450. Delete Node in a BST

Explanation for Leetcode 450 - Delete Node in a BST, and its solution in Python.

Problem

Leetcode 450 - Delete Node in a BST

Example:

Desktop View

1
2
3
4
5
Input: root = [5,3,6,2,4,null,7], key = 3
Output: [5,4,6,2,null,null,7]
Explanation: Given key to delete is 3. So we find the node with value 3 and delete it.
One valid answer is [5,4,6,2,null,null,7], shown in the above BST.
Please notice that another valid answer is [5,2,6,null,4,null,7] and it's also accepted.

Desktop View

1
2
3
Input: root = [5,3,6,2,4,null,7], key = 0
Output: [5,3,6,2,4,null,7]
Explanation: The tree does not contain a node with value = 0.

Approach

Here is the Python code for the solution:

1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
29
30
31
32
33
34
35
36
37
38
39
40
41
42
43
44
45
46
47
48
49
50
51
52
53
54
55
56
57
58
59
60
61
62
63
class Solution:
    def deleteNode(self, root: Optional[TreeNode], key: int) -> Optional[TreeNode]:
        # if there is no root
        if not root:
            return root

        parent = None
        curr = root

        # find the TreeNode to delete
        while curr and curr.val != key:
            parent = curr
            if key > curr.val:
                curr = curr.right
            else:
                curr = curr.left
        
        # if the target doesn't work, return the Tree
        if not curr:
            return root
        
        # if there's no child or 1 child of curr
        if not curr.left or not curr.right:
            child = curr.left if curr.left else curr.right
            if not parent:
                return child
            # if parent's left is the current make the child to curr
            if parent.left == curr:
                parent.left = child
            # if parent's right is the current, make the child to curr
            else:
                parent.right = child
        # if there are 2 childs for curr
        else:
            par = None
            delNode = curr
            # since right has to be our new curr, go to curr.right
            curr = curr.right

            # get the left most child, and its parent
            while curr.left:
                par = curr
                curr = curr.left
            
            # if child's parent exists move all the right child to parent's left
            if par:
                par.left = curr.right
                curr.right = delNode.right
            
            # connect child's left to delNode's left
            curr.left = delNode.left

            # if child's parent doesn't exist
            if not parent:
                return curr
            
            # if parent'left is delNode
            if parent.left == delNode:
                parent.left = curr
            else:
                parent.right = curr
        
        return root

Time Complexity and Space Complexity

Time Complexity: $O(h)$ where $h$ is height of the tree

Space Complexity: $O(1)$

This post is licensed under CC BY 4.0 by the author.