LeetCode-validate-binary-search-tree

题目描述

Given a binary tree, determine if it is a valid binary search tree (BST).

Assume a BST is defined as follows:

• The left subtree of a node contains only nodes with keys less than the node's key.
• The right subtree of a node contains only nodes with keysgreater than the node's key.
• Both the left and right subtrees must also be binary search trees.

confused what"{1,#,2,3}"means? > read more on how binary tree is serialized on OJ.

OJ's Binary Tree Serialization:

The serialization of a binary tree follows a level order traversal, where '#' signifies a path terminator where no node exists below.

Here's an example:

   1
  / \
 2   3
    /
   4
    \
     5

The above binary tree is serialized as"{1,2,3,#,#,4,#,#,5}".

验证一个二叉树是不是BST（二叉搜索树），肯定是要用递归的方法，但是有个值得注意的地方时，根节点的右子树上所有的结点都要大于根节点，哪怕是叶子结点，这里面就牵扯到一个值大小比较的问题了。

/**
 * Definition for binary tree
 * public class TreeNode {
 *     int val;
 *     TreeNode left;
 *     TreeNode right;
 *     TreeNode(int x) { val = x; }
 * }
 */
public class Solution {
    private Integer pre = null;
    public boolean isValidBST(TreeNode root) {

        if(root == null)
            return true;
        if(!isValidBST(root.left))
            return false;
        if(pre != null && root.val <= pre)
            return false;
        pre = root.val;
        if(!isValidBST(root.right))
            return false;
        
        return true;
    }
}

先判断根节点左子树是否是BST，不是直接返回false，是的话继续往下走，判断与之前记录的pre值大小关系，如果小于pre，则表明右子树中包含比根节点小的结点，明确不对，返回false，如果不满足，继续往下走，pre值记为当前root的值，最后判断右子树是否是BST，不是返回false，是则返回true。
pre值保存着根节点的值，尤其是在比较左孩子的时候，不但要判断左孩子的子树是否是BST，更要与根节点比。