Implementing Forward Iterator in BST

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

  1. curr(): returns the pointer to current element.
  2. next(): iterates to the next smallest element in the Binary Search Tree.
  3. 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 varaible “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:

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    // 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;
    }

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Output:
    

    2 3 4 5 6 7 8

    

    

    
          
          
          
          
    
            
    
    
    
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