xref: /freebsd/lib/libc/stdlib/tsearch.3 (revision 193d9e768ba63fcfb187cfd17f461f7d41345048)
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27.\"	OpenBSD: tsearch.3,v 1.2 1998/06/21 22:13:49 millert Exp
28.\" $FreeBSD$
29.\"
30.Dd October 9, 2016
31.Dt TSEARCH 3
32.Os
33.Sh NAME
34.Nm tsearch , tfind , tdelete , twalk
35.Nd manipulate binary search trees
36.Sh SYNOPSIS
37.In search.h
38.Ft void *
39.Fn tdelete "const void * restrict key" "posix_tnode ** restrict rootp" "int (*compar) (const void *, const void *)"
40.Ft posix_tnode *
41.Fn tfind "const void *key" "posix_tnode * const *rootp" "int (*compar) (const void *, const void *)"
42.Ft posix_tnode *
43.Fn tsearch "const void *key" "posix_tnode **rootp" "int (*compar) (const void *, const void *)"
44.Ft void
45.Fn twalk "const posix_tnode *root" "void (*action) (const posix_tnode *, VISIT, int)"
46.Sh DESCRIPTION
47The
48.Fn tdelete ,
49.Fn tfind ,
50.Fn tsearch ,
51and
52.Fn twalk
53functions manage binary search trees.
54This implementation uses a balanced AVL tree,
55which due to its strong theoretical limit on the height of the tree has
56the advantage of calling the comparison function relatively
57infrequently.
58.Pp
59The comparison function passed in by
60the user has the same style of return values as
61.Xr strcmp 3 .
62.Pp
63The
64.Fn tfind
65function
66searches for the datum matched by the argument
67.Fa key
68in the binary tree rooted at
69.Fa rootp ,
70returning a pointer to the datum if it is found and NULL
71if it is not.
72.Pp
73The
74.Fn tsearch
75function
76is identical to
77.Fn tfind
78except that if no match is found,
79.Fa key
80is inserted into the tree and a pointer to it is returned.
81If
82.Fa rootp
83points to a NULL value a new binary search tree is created.
84.Pp
85The
86.Fn tdelete
87function
88deletes a node from the specified binary search tree and returns
89a pointer to the parent of the node to be deleted.
90It takes the same arguments as
91.Fn tfind
92and
93.Fn tsearch .
94If the node to be deleted is the root of the binary search tree,
95.Fa rootp
96will be adjusted.
97.Pp
98The
99.Fn twalk
100function
101walks the binary search tree rooted in
102.Fa root
103and calls the function
104.Fa action
105on each node.
106The
107.Fa action
108function
109is called with three arguments: a pointer to the current node,
110a value from the enum
111.Sy "typedef enum { preorder, postorder, endorder, leaf } VISIT;"
112specifying the traversal type, and a node level (where level
113zero is the root of the tree).
114.Sh RETURN VALUES
115The
116.Fn tsearch
117function returns NULL if allocation of a new node fails (usually
118due to a lack of free memory).
119.Pp
120The
121.Fn tfind ,
122.Fn tsearch ,
123and
124.Fn tdelete
125functions
126return NULL if
127.Fa rootp
128is NULL or the datum cannot be found.
129.Pp
130The
131.Fn twalk
132function returns no value.
133.Sh SEE ALSO
134.Xr bsearch 3 ,
135.Xr hsearch 3 ,
136.Xr lsearch 3
137.Sh STANDARDS
138These functions conform to
139.St -p1003.1-2008 .
140.Pp
141The
142.Fa posix_tnode
143type is not part of
144.St -p1003.1-2008 ,
145but is expected to be standardized by future versions of the standard.
146It is defined as
147.Fa void
148for source-level compatibility.
149Using
150.Fa posix_tnode
151makes distinguishing between nodes and keys easier.
152