LeetCode - 669. Trim a Binary Search Tree

Q：
Given a binary search tree and the lowest and highest boundaries as L and R, trim the tree so that all its elements lies in [L, R] (R >= L). You might need to change the root of the tree, so the result should return the new root of the trimmed binary search tree.

Example 1:

Input: 
    1
   / \
  0   2

  L = 1
  R = 2

Output: 
    1
      \
       2

Example 2:

Input: 
    3
   / \
  0   4
   \
    2
   /
  1

  L = 1
  R = 3

Output: 
      3
     / 
   2   
  /
 1

A：

# Definition for a binary tree node.
class TreeNode(object):
    def __init__(self, x):
        self.val = x
        self.left = None
        self.right = None

class Solution(object):
    def trimBST(self, root, L, R):
        """
        :type root: TreeNode
        :type L: int
        :type R: int
        :rtype: TreeNode
        """     
        if not root:
            return None
        if root.val < L:
            return self.trimBST(root.right, L, R)
        elif root.val > R:
            return self.trimBST(root.left, L, R)
        root.left = self.trimBST(root.left, L, R)
        root.right = self.trimBST(root.right, L, R)
        return root

二叉搜索树，即二叉排序树，特点是 左子树所有节点的值均小于根节点的值，右子树所有节点的值均大于根节点的值。
此处，首先判断是否存在节点，若不存在直接返回None。然后当root.val小于L时，则左子树所有节点值均小于L，因此，舍弃左子树，递归遍历root的右子树；当root.val大于R时，则右子树所有节点值均大于R，因此，舍弃右子树，递归遍历root的左子树。
之后便是正常的左右子树递归遍历，返回root。