Implementing Forward Iterator in BST

Last Updated : 31 Jan, 2022

Given a Binary search tree, the task is to implement forward iterator on it with the following functions.

curr(): returns the pointer to current element.
next(): iterates to the next smallest element in the Binary Search Tree.
isEnd(): returns true if there no node left to traverse else false.

Iterator traverses the BST in sorted order(increasing). We will implement the iterator using a stack data structure.
Initialisation:

We will create a stack named “q” to store the nodes of BST.

Create a variable “curr” and initialise it with pointer to root.

While “curr” is not NULL

Push “curr” in the stack ‘q’.

Set curr = curr -> left

curr()

Returns the value at the top of the stack ‘q’.
Note: It might throw segmentation fault if the stack is empty.

Time Complexity: O(1)

next()

Declare pointer variable “curr” which points to node.

Set curr = q.top()->right.

Pop top most element of stack.

While “curr” is not NULL

Push “curr” in the stack ‘q’.

Set curr = curr -> left.

Time Complexity: O(1) on average of all calls. Can be O(h) for a single call in the worst case.

isEnd()

Returns true if stack “q” is empty else return false.

Time Complexity: O(1)
Worst Case space complexity for this implementation of iterators is O(h). It should be noticed that
iterator points to the top-most element of the stack.

Below is the implementation of the above approach:

C++

// C++ implementation of the approach
#include <bits/stdc++.h>
using namespace std;
 
// Node of the binary tree
struct node {
    int data;
    node* left;
    node* right;
    node(int data)
    {
        this->data = data;
        left = NULL;
        right = NULL;
    }
};
 
// Iterator for BST
class bstit {
private:
    // Stack to store the nodes
    // of BST
    stack<node*> q;
 
public:
    // Constructor for the class
    bstit(node* root)
    {
        // Initializing stack
        node* curr = root;
        while (curr != NULL)
            q.push(curr), curr = curr->left;
    }
 
    // Function to return
    // current element iterator
    // is pointing to
    node* curr()
    {
        return q.top();
    }
 
    // Function to iterate to next
    // element of BST
    void next()
    {
        node* curr = q.top()->right;
        q.pop();
        while (curr != NULL)
            q.push(curr), curr = curr->left;
    }
 
    // Function to check if
    // stack is empty
    bool isEnd()
    {
        return !(q.size());
    }
};
 
// Function to iterator to every element
// using iterator
void iterate(bstit it)
{
    while (!it.isEnd())
        cout << it.curr()->data << " ", it.next();
}
 
// Driver code
int main()
{
    node* root = new node(5);
    root->left = new node(3);
    root->right = new node(7);
    root->left->left = new node(2);
    root->left->right = new node(4);
    root->right->left = new node(6);
    root->right->right = new node(8);
 
    // Iterator to BST
    bstit it(root);
 
    // Function to test iterator
    iterate(it);
 
    return 0;
}

Java

// Java implementation of the approach
import java.util.*;
 
// Node of the binary tree
class TreeNode 
{
    int val;
    TreeNode left;
    TreeNode right;
    TreeNode(int x) 
    {
        val = x;
    }
}
 
// Iterator for BST
class BSTIterator{
 
// Stack to store the nodes
// of BST
Stack<TreeNode> s;
 
// Constructor for the class
public BSTIterator(TreeNode root)
{
     
    // Initializing stack
    s = new Stack<>();
    TreeNode curr = root;
     
    while (curr != null) 
    {
        s.push(curr);
        curr = curr.left;
    }
}
 
// Function to return
// current element iterator
// is pointing to
TreeNode curr() 
{
    return s.peek();
}
 
// Function to iterate to next
// element of BST
public void next()
{
    TreeNode temp = s.peek().right;
    s.pop();
     
    while (temp != null) 
    {
        s.push(temp);
        temp = temp.left;
    }
}
 
// Function to check if
// stack is empty
public boolean isEnd() 
{
    return !s.isEmpty();
}
 
// Function to iterator to every element
// using iterator
void iterate()
{
    while (isEnd())
    {
        System.out.print(curr().val + " ");
        next();
    }
}
}
 
class BinaryTree{
     
TreeNode root;
 
// Driver code
public static void main(String args[])
{
     
    // Let us construct a tree shown in 
    // the above figure
    BinaryTree tree = new BinaryTree();
    tree.root = new TreeNode(5);
    tree.root.left = new TreeNode(3);
    tree.root.right = new TreeNode(7);
    tree.root.left.left = new TreeNode(2);
    tree.root.left.right = new TreeNode(4);
    tree.root.right.left = new TreeNode(6);
    tree.root.right.right = new TreeNode(8);
 
    // Iterator to BST
    BSTIterator it = new BSTIterator(tree.root);
 
    // Function to test iterator
    it.iterate();
}
}
 
// This code is contributed by nobody_cares

Python3

# Python 3 implementation of the approach
# Node of the binary tree
class node:
    def __init__(self,data):
        self.data = data
        self.left = None
        self.right = None
 
# Iterator for BST
class bstit:
    # Stack to store the nodes
    # of BST
    __stack = []
    # Constructor for the class
 
    def __init__(self, root):
 
        # Initializing stack
        curr = root
        while (curr is not None):
            self.__stack.append(curr)
            curr = curr.left
 
    # Function to return
    # current element iterator
    # is pointing to
    def curr(self):
        return self.__stack[-1]
 
    # Function to iterate to next
    # element of BST
    def next(self):
 
        curr = self.__stack[-1].right
        self.__stack.pop()
        while (curr is not None):
            self.__stack.append(curr)
            curr = curr.left
 
    # Function to check if
    # stack is empty
    def isEnd(self):
        return not len(self.__stack)
 
# Function to iterator to every element
# using iterator
def iterate(it):
 
    while (not it.isEnd()):
        print(it.curr().data,end=" ")
        it.next()
 
# Driver code
if __name__ == '__main__':
 
    root = node(5)
    root.left = node(3)
    root.right = node(7)
    root.left.left = node(2)
    root.left.right = node(4)
    root.right.left = node(6)
    root.right.right = node(8)
 
    # Iterator to BST
    it = bstit(root)
 
    # Function to test iterator
    iterate(it)
    print()
# This code is added by Amartya Ghosh

C#

// C# implementation of the approach
using System;
using System.Collections.Generic;
 
// Node of the binary tree
public class TreeNode 
{
  public int val;
  public TreeNode left;
  public TreeNode right;
  public TreeNode(int x) 
  {
    val = x;
  }
}
 
// Iterator for BST
public class BSTIterator{
 
  // Stack to store the nodes
  // of BST
  Stack<TreeNode> s;
 
  // Constructor for the class
  public BSTIterator(TreeNode root)
  {
 
    // Initializing stack
    s = new Stack<TreeNode>();
    TreeNode curr = root;
 
    while (curr != null) 
    {
      s.Push(curr);
      curr = curr.left;
    }
  }
 
  // Function to return
  // current element iterator
  // is pointing to
  TreeNode curr() 
  {
    return s.Peek();
  }
 
  // Function to iterate to next
  // element of BST
  public void next()
  {
    TreeNode temp = s.Peek().right;
    s.Pop();
 
    while (temp != null) 
    {
      s.Push(temp);
      temp = temp.left;
    }
  }
 
  // Function to check if
  // stack is empty
  public bool isEnd() 
  {
    return s.Count!=0;
  }
 
  // Function to iterator to every element
  // using iterator
  public void iterate()
  {
    while (isEnd())
    {
      Console.Write(curr().val + " ");
      next();
    }
  }
}
 
public class BinaryTree{
 
  TreeNode root;
 
  // Driver code
  public static void Main(String []args)
  {
 
    // Let us construct a tree shown in 
    // the above figure
    BinaryTree tree = new BinaryTree();
    tree.root = new TreeNode(5);
    tree.root.left = new TreeNode(3);
    tree.root.right = new TreeNode(7);
    tree.root.left.left = new TreeNode(2);
    tree.root.left.right = new TreeNode(4);
    tree.root.right.left = new TreeNode(6);
    tree.root.right.right = new TreeNode(8);
 
    // Iterator to BST
    BSTIterator it = new BSTIterator(tree.root);
 
    // Function to test iterator
    it.iterate();
  }
}
 
// This code is contributed by Rajput-Ji 

Javascript

<script>
 
// Javascript implementation of the approach
 
// Node of the binary tree
class node
{
    constructor(data) 
    {
        this.left = null;
        this.right = null;
        this.data = data;
    }
}
 
// Stack to store the nodes
// of BST
let q = [];
 
// Constructor for the class
function bstit(root)
{
     
    // Initializing stack
    let curr = root;
     
    while (curr != null)
    {
        q.push(curr);
        curr = curr.left;
    }
}
 
// Function to return
// current element iterator
// is pointing to
function curr()
{
    return q[q.length - 1];
}
 
// Function to iterate to previous
// element of BST
function next()
{
    let curr = q[q.length - 1].right;
    q.pop();
     
    while (curr != null)
    {
        q.push(curr);
        curr = curr.left;
    } 
}
 
// Function to check if
// stack is empty
function isEnd()
{
    return (q.length == 0);
}
 
// Function to test the iterator
function iterate()
{
    while (!isEnd())
    {
        document.write(curr().data + " ");
        next();
    }
}
 
// Driver code
let root = new node(5);
root.left = new node(3);
root.right = new node(7);
root.left.left = new node(2);
root.left.right = new node(4);
root.right.left = new node(6);
root.right.right = new node(8);
 
// Iterator to BST
bstit(root);
 
// Function call to test the iterator
iterate();
 
// This code is contributed by Rajput-Ji
 
</script>

Output:

2 3 4 5 6 7 8

Implement Binary Search Tree(BST) Iterator

DivyanshuShekhar1

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Implementing Forward Iterator in BST

C++

Java

Python3

C#

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