Leetcode – 117. Populating Next Right Pointers in Each Node II

Given a binary tree

struct Node {
  int val;
  Node *left;
  Node *right;
  Node *next;
}

Populate each next pointer to point to its next right node. If there is no next right node, the next pointer should be set to NULL.

Initially, all next pointers are set to NULL.

Example:

Input: {"$id":"1","left":{"$id":"2","left":{"$id":"3","left":null,"next":null,"right":null,"val":4},"next":null,"right":{"$id":"4","left":null,"next":null,"right":null,"val":5},"val":2},"next":null,"right":{"$id":"5","left":null,"next":null,"right":{"$id":"6","left":null,"next":null,"right":null,"val":7},"val":3},"val":1}

Output: {"$id":"1","left":{"$id":"2","left":{"$id":"3","left":null,"next":{"$id":"4","left":null,"next":{"$id":"5","left":null,"next":null,"right":null,"val":7},"right":null,"val":5},"right":null,"val":4},"next":{"$id":"6","left":null,"next":null,"right":{"$ref":"5"},"val":3},"right":{"$ref":"4"},"val":2},"next":null,"right":{"$ref":"6"},"val":1}

Explanation: Given the above binary tree (Figure A), your function should populate each next pointer to point to its next right node, just like in Figure B.

Note:

• You may only use constant extra space.
• Recursive approach is fine, implicit stack space does not count as extra space for this problem.

Approach

The idea is to do level order traversal, but instead of using queue, we shall use node’s next node pointer.

• Step1: From the current root element, connect next level’s nodes, with help of 2 pointers (childHead and child). childHead points to next level’s head node and child pointer is next level’s traversal pointer.
• Step2: Move to next item on the current level using next pointer. Once we reach END of current level, point current root to next level’s head using childHead and continue the same process.

public Node Connect(Node root) {
            
        Node rootPointer = root;

        //maintain 2 pointers
        Node childHead = null; //NEXT level's head pointer
        Node child = null; //NEXT level's traversal pointer

        while (root !=null ) 
        {
            //*******************************************
            //Step1: build child level's next pointers
            //*******************************************
            
            //if current item has left child
            if (root.left !=null ) 
            {    
                //mark child level's head if it is not done
                if(childHead ==null)
                {
                    //both child and childHead point to left node
                    childHead = root.left;
                    child = root.left;
                }
                else
                {
                    //attach child next to root's left node
                    child.next = root.left;   
                    
                    //move to child's next                     
                    child = child.next;
                }
            }

            if (root.right !=null) 
            {
                //mark child level's head if it is not done
                if(childHead ==null)
                {
                    //both child and childHead point to right node
                    childHead = root.right;
                    child = root.right;
                }
                else
                {
                    //attach child next to root's right node
                    child.next = root.right;   
                    
                    //move to child's next                     
                    child = child.next;
                }
            }
            
            //*******************************************
            //Step2: move to next item on SAME level
            //*******************************************
            root = root.next;

            //*******************************************
            //Step3: Once we reach END of current level
            //*******************************************
            if(root ==null)
            {
                //go to next LEVEL
                root = childHead;                    

                //reset child and childHead pointers 
                childHead = null;
                child = null;
            }
        }
        
        return rootPointer;
    }