LeetCode 669. Trim a Binary Search Tree(Easy)

Description:
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

---

Analysis:
Since this is a binary search tree, we can discuss the problem on three situations.
For every node in the tree:

1. If the value of the node is in the interval $[L,R]$, we retain this node and continue finding the potential valid nodes in the left subtree and the right subtree of the node.
2. If the value of the node is lower than L, we scrap this node and continue finding the potential valid nodes in the right subtree of the node.
3. If the value of the node is higher than R, we scrap this node and continue finding the potential valid nodes in the left subtree of the node.

---

Code:

/**
 * Definition for a binary tree node.
 * public class TreeNode {
 *     int val;
 *     TreeNode left;
 *     TreeNode right;
 *     TreeNode(int x) { val = x; }
 * }
 */
class Solution {
    public TreeNode trimBST(TreeNode root, int L, int R) {
        if(root == null) {
            return null;
        }else{
            if(root.val >= L && root.val <= R) {
                root.left = trimBST(root.left, L, R);
                root.right = trimBST(root.right, L, R);
                return root;
            }else if(root.val < L) {
                return trimBST(root.right, L, R);
            }else{
                return trimBST(root.left, L, R);
            }
        }
    }
}