4/27/2018 Binary Tree – Deleting a Node

Ads by Google Delete How To Search Records Delete

(Printed from url=http://www.tech-faq.com/binary-tree-deleting-a-node.html)

Binary Tree – Deleting a Node

The possibilities which may arise during deleting a node from a binary
tree are as follows:
Node is a terminal node: In this case, if the node is a left child of its
parent, then the left pointer of its parent is set to NULL. Otherwise if
the node is a right child of its parent, then the right pointer of its
parent is set to NULL
Node has only one child: In this case, the appropriate pointer of its
parent is set to child node.
Node has two children: Predecessor replaces the node value, and
Rs 29,690 Rs 26,990
then the predecessor of the node is deleted.
Rs 25,236 Rs 22,941

http://www.tech-faq.com/binary-tree-deleting-a-node.html 1/6
4/27/2018 Binary Tree – Deleting a Node

Since the node has both, right and left child, if right sub-tree is opted find the smallest node. If left sub-tree is opted
then find the largest node.

Since node->right = node->left = NULL, delete the node and place NULL in the parent node.

Node Removal Operation

If the node to be removed is a leaf node, it can be deleted immediately. If the node has one child, the node can be
deleted after its parent adjusts a link to bypass the deleted node.

http://www.tech-faq.com/binary-tree-deleting-a-node.html 2/6
4/27/2018 Binary Tree – Deleting a Node

What if the node numbered 2 is deleted?

t à right

set t = t à right
If the node to be removed has two children, the general strategy is to replace the data of this node with the smallest
data of the right sub-tree. Then the node with the smallest data is removed (this case is easy since this node cannot
have two children).

http://www.tech-faq.com/binary-tree-deleting-a-node.html 3/6
4/27/2018 Binary Tree – Deleting a Node

Remove the numbered 2 again.

C++ implementation for deleting a node

void del(int item)

{
node *parent,*location;
if(root==NULL)
{
cout<<"Tree empty");
return;
}
find(item,&parent,&location);
if(location==NULL)
{
cout<<"Item not present in tree";

http://www.tech-faq.com/binary-tree-deleting-a-node.html 4/6
4/27/2018 Binary Tree – Deleting a Node

return;
}
if(location->lchild==NULL && location->rchild==NULL)
case_a(parent,location);
if(location->lchild!=NULL && location->rchild==NULL)
case_b(parent,location);
if(location->lchild==NULL && location->rchild!=NULL)
case_b(parent,location);
if(location->lchild!=NULL && location->rchild!=NULL)
case_c(parent,location);
free(location);
}/*End of del()*/
void find(int item,node **par,node **loc)
{
node *ptr,*ptrsave;
if(root==NULL) /*tree empty*/
{
*loc=NULL;
*par=NULL;
return;
}

if(item==root->info) /*item is at root*/

{
*loc=root;
*par=NULL;
return;
}

/*Initialize ptr and ptrsave*/

if(item<root->info)
ptr=root->lchild;
else
ptr=root->rchild;
ptrsave=root;

while(ptr!=NULL)
{
if(item==ptr->info)
{
*loc=ptr;
*par=ptrsave;
return;
}
ptrsave=ptr;
if(item<ptr->info)
ptr=ptr->lchild;
else
ptr=ptr->rchild;
}/*End of while */

*loc=NULL; /*item not found*/

*par=ptrsave;
}/*End of find()*/

http://www.tech-faq.com/binary-tree-deleting-a-node.html 5/6
4/27/2018 Binary Tree – Deleting a Node

Voltas 1.0 Ton 3 Binary Tree – Trees Programming

Star (BEE ... Searching a
Node
Ad TATA CLIQ tech-faq.com tech-faq.com tech-faq.com

Exception Deleting an EBCDIC How a Smart

Handling Element from a (Extended Card
Heap Binary Coded... Programmer...
tech-faq.com tech-faq.com tech-faq.com tech-faq.com

http://www.tech-faq.com/binary-tree-deleting-a-node.html 6/6