How to find the closest element to a given key value in a binary search tree?

Question

Given a bst with integer values as keys how do I find the closest node to that key in a bst ? The BST is represented using a object of nodes (Java). Closest will be for eg 4

Answer 1

Here's a recursive solution in Python:

def searchForClosestNodeHelper(root, val, closestNode):
    if root is None:
        return closestNode

    if root.val == val:
        return root

    if closestNode is None or abs(root.val - val) < abs(closestNode.val - val):
        closestNode = root

    if val < root.val:
        return searchForClosestNodeHelper(root.left, val, closestNode)
    else:
        return searchForClosestNodeHelper(root.right, val, closestNode)

def searchForClosestNode(root, val):
    return searchForClosestNodeHelper(root, val, None)