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145. Binary Tree Postorder Traversal
Description
Given the root of a binary tree, return the postorder traversal of its nodes' values.
Example 1:

Input: root = [1,null,2,3] Output: [3,2,1]
Example 2:
Input: root = [] Output: []
Example 3:
Input: root = [1] Output: [1]
Constraints:
- The number of the nodes in the tree is in the range
[0, 100]. -100 <= Node.val <= 100
Follow up: Recursive solution is trivial, could you do it iteratively?
Solutions
Solution 1
1. Recusive Traversal
2. Non-recursive using Stack
3. Morris Traversal
Solution 2: Stack Implementation for Postorder Traversal
The order of preorder traversal is: root, left, right. If we change the order of the left and right children, the order becomes: root, right, left. Finally, reversing the result gives us the postorder traversal result.
Therefore, the idea of using a stack to implement non-recursive traversal is as follows:
- Define a stack $stk$, and first push the root node into the stack.
- If the stack is not empty, pop a node from the stack each time.
- Process the node.
- First push the left child of the node into the stack, then push the right child of the node into the stack (if there are child nodes).
- Repeat steps 2-4.
- Reverse the result to get the postorder traversal result.
The time complexity is $O(n)$, and the space complexity is $O(n)$. Here, $n$ is the number of nodes in the binary tree. The space complexity mainly depends on the stack space.
Solution 3: Morris Implementation for Postorder Traversal
Morris traversal does not require a stack, and its space complexity is $O(1)$. The core idea is:
Traverse the binary tree nodes,
- If the right subtree of the current node
rootis empty, add the current node value to the result list $ans$, and update the current node toroot.left. - If the right subtree of the current node
rootis not empty, find the leftmost nodenextof the right subtree (which is the successor of therootnode in inorder traversal):- If the left subtree of the successor node
nextis empty, add the current node value to the result list $ans$, then point the left subtree of the successor node to the current noderoot, and update the current node toroot.right. - If the left subtree of the successor node
nextis not empty, point the left subtree of the successor node to null (i.e., disconnectnextandroot), and update the current node toroot.left.
- If the left subtree of the successor node
- Repeat the above steps until the binary tree node is null, and the traversal ends.
- Finally, return the reverse of the result list.
The idea of Morris postorder traversal is consistent with Morris preorder traversal, just change the “root-left-right” of preorder to “root-right-left”, and finally reverse the result to become “left-right-root”.
The time complexity is $O(n)$, where $n$ is the number of nodes in the binary tree. The space complexity is $O(1)$.
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/** * Definition for a binary tree node. * public class TreeNode { * int val; * TreeNode left; * TreeNode right; * TreeNode() {} * TreeNode(int val) { this.val = val; } * TreeNode(int val, TreeNode left, TreeNode right) { * this.val = val; * this.left = left; * this.right = right; * } * } */ class Solution { public List<Integer> postorderTraversal(TreeNode root) { LinkedList<Integer> ans = new LinkedList<>(); while (root != null) { if (root.right == null) { ans.addFirst(root.val); root = root.left; } else { TreeNode next = root.right; while (next.left != null && next.left != root) { next = next.left; } if (next.left == null) { ans.addFirst(root.val); next.left = root; root = root.right; } else { next.left = null; root = root.left; } } } return ans; } } // Solution 2 /** * Definition for a binary tree node. * public class TreeNode { * int val; * TreeNode left; * TreeNode right; * TreeNode() {} * TreeNode(int val) { this.val = val; } * TreeNode(int val, TreeNode left, TreeNode right) { * this.val = val; * this.left = left; * this.right = right; * } * } */ class Solution { public List<Integer> postorderTraversal(TreeNode root) { LinkedList<Integer> ans = new LinkedList<>(); if (root == null) { return ans; } Deque<TreeNode> stk = new ArrayDeque<>(); stk.push(root); while (!stk.isEmpty()) { TreeNode node = stk.pop(); ans.addFirst(node.val); if (node.left != null) { stk.push(node.left); } if (node.right != null) { stk.push(node.right); } } return ans; } } // Solution 3 /** * Definition for a binary tree node. * public class TreeNode { * int val; * TreeNode left; * TreeNode right; * TreeNode() {} * TreeNode(int val) { this.val = val; } * TreeNode(int val, TreeNode left, TreeNode right) { * this.val = val; * this.left = left; * this.right = right; * } * } */ class Solution { public List<Integer> postorderTraversal(TreeNode root) { LinkedList<Integer> ans = new LinkedList<>(); while (root != null) { if (root.right == null) { ans.addFirst(root.val); root = root.left; } else { TreeNode next = root.right; while (next.left != null && next.left != root) { next = next.left; } if (next.left == null) { ans.addFirst(root.val); next.left = root; root = root.right; } else { next.left = null; root = root.left; } } } return ans; } } -
/** * Definition for a binary tree node. * struct TreeNode { * int val; * TreeNode *left; * TreeNode *right; * TreeNode() : val(0), left(nullptr), right(nullptr) {} * TreeNode(int x) : val(x), left(nullptr), right(nullptr) {} * TreeNode(int x, TreeNode *left, TreeNode *right) : val(x), left(left), right(right) {} * }; */ class Solution { public: vector<int> postorderTraversal(TreeNode* root) { vector<int> ans; while (root) { if (!root->right) { ans.push_back(root->val); root = root->left; } else { TreeNode* next = root->right; while (next->left && next->left != root) { next = next->left; } if (!next->left) { ans.push_back(root->val); next->left = root; root = root->right; } else { next->left = nullptr; root = root->left; } } } reverse(ans.begin(), ans.end()); return ans; } }; // Solution 2 /** * Definition for a binary tree node. * struct TreeNode { * int val; * TreeNode *left; * TreeNode *right; * TreeNode() : val(0), left(nullptr), right(nullptr) {} * TreeNode(int x) : val(x), left(nullptr), right(nullptr) {} * TreeNode(int x, TreeNode *left, TreeNode *right) : val(x), left(left), right(right) {} * }; */ class Solution { public: vector<int> postorderTraversal(TreeNode* root) { vector<int> ans; if (!root) { return ans; } stack<TreeNode*> stk; stk.push(root); while (stk.size()) { auto node = stk.top(); stk.pop(); ans.push_back(node->val); if (node->left) { stk.push(node->left); } if (node->right) { stk.push(node->right); } } reverse(ans.begin(), ans.end()); return ans; } }; // Solution 3 /** * Definition for a binary tree node. * struct TreeNode { * int val; * TreeNode *left; * TreeNode *right; * TreeNode() : val(0), left(nullptr), right(nullptr) {} * TreeNode(int x) : val(x), left(nullptr), right(nullptr) {} * TreeNode(int x, TreeNode *left, TreeNode *right) : val(x), left(left), right(right) {} * }; */ class Solution { public: vector<int> postorderTraversal(TreeNode* root) { vector<int> ans; while (root) { if (!root->right) { ans.push_back(root->val); root = root->left; } else { TreeNode* next = root->right; while (next->left && next->left != root) { next = next->left; } if (next->left != root) { ans.push_back(root->val); next->left = root; root = root->right; } else { next->left = nullptr; root = root->left; } } } reverse(ans.begin(), ans.end()); return ans; } }; -
# Definition for a binary tree node. # class TreeNode: # def __init__(self, val=0, left=None, right=None): # self.val = val # self.left = left # self.right = right class Solution: def postorderTraversal(self, root: Optional[TreeNode]) -> List[int]: ans = [] while root: if root.right is None: ans.append(root.val) root = root.left else: next = root.right while next.left and next.left != root: next = next.left if next.left != root: ans.append(root.val) next.left = root root = root.right else: next.left = None root = root.left return ans[::-1] # Solution 2 # Definition for a binary tree node. # class TreeNode: # def __init__(self, val=0, left=None, right=None): # self.val = val # self.left = left # self.right = right class Solution: def postorderTraversal(self, root: Optional[TreeNode]) -> List[int]: ans = [] if root is None: return ans stk = [root] while stk: node = stk.pop() ans.append(node.val) if node.left: stk.append(node.left) if node.right: stk.append(node.right) return ans[::-1] # Solution 3 # Definition for a binary tree node. # class TreeNode: # def __init__(self, val=0, left=None, right=None): # self.val = val # self.left = left # self.right = right class Solution: def postorderTraversal(self, root: Optional[TreeNode]) -> List[int]: ans = [] while root: if root.right is None: ans.append(root.val) root = root.left else: next = root.right while next.left and next.left != root: next = next.left if next.left != root: ans.append(root.val) next.left = root root = root.right else: next.left = None root = root.left return ans[::-1] -
/** * Definition for a binary tree node. * type TreeNode struct { * Val int * Left *TreeNode * Right *TreeNode * } */ func postorderTraversal(root *TreeNode) []int { var ans []int for root != nil { if root.Right == nil { ans = append([]int{root.Val}, ans...) root = root.Left } else { next := root.Right for next.Left != nil && next.Left != root { next = next.Left } if next.Left == nil { ans = append([]int{root.Val}, ans...) next.Left = root root = root.Right } else { next.Left = nil root = root.Left } } } return ans } // Solution 2 /** * Definition for a binary tree node. * type TreeNode struct { * Val int * Left *TreeNode * Right *TreeNode * } */ func postorderTraversal(root *TreeNode) (ans []int) { if root == nil { return } stk := []*TreeNode{root} for len(stk) > 0 { node := stk[len(stk)-1] stk = stk[:len(stk)-1] ans = append(ans, node.Val) if node.Left != nil { stk = append(stk, node.Left) } if node.Right != nil { stk = append(stk, node.Right) } } for i, j := 0, len(ans)-1; i < j; i, j = i+1, j-1 { ans[i], ans[j] = ans[j], ans[i] } return } // Solution 3 /** * Definition for a binary tree node. * type TreeNode struct { * Val int * Left *TreeNode * Right *TreeNode * } */ func postorderTraversal(root *TreeNode) (ans []int) { for root != nil { if root.Right == nil { ans = append([]int{root.Val}, ans...) root = root.Left } else { next := root.Right for next.Left != nil && next.Left != root { next = next.Left } if next.Left == nil { ans = append([]int{root.Val}, ans...) next.Left = root root = root.Right } else { next.Left = nil root = root.Left } } } return } -
/** * Definition for a binary tree node. * class TreeNode { * val: number * left: TreeNode | null * right: TreeNode | null * constructor(val?: number, left?: TreeNode | null, right?: TreeNode | null) { * this.val = (val===undefined ? 0 : val) * this.left = (left===undefined ? null : left) * this.right = (right===undefined ? null : right) * } * } */ function postorderTraversal(root: TreeNode | null): number[] { if (root == null) return []; let stack = []; let ans = []; let prev = null; while (root || stack.length) { while (root) { stack.push(root); root = root.left; } root = stack.pop(); if (!root.right || root.right == prev) { ans.push(root.val); prev = root; root = null; } else { stack.push(root); root = root.right; } } return ans; } // Solution 2 /** * Definition for a binary tree node. * class TreeNode { * val: number * left: TreeNode | null * right: TreeNode | null * constructor(val?: number, left?: TreeNode | null, right?: TreeNode | null) { * this.val = (val===undefined ? 0 : val) * this.left = (left===undefined ? null : left) * this.right = (right===undefined ? null : right) * } * } */ function postorderTraversal(root: TreeNode | null): number[] { const ans: number[] = []; if (!root) { return ans; } const stk: TreeNode[] = [root]; while (stk.length) { const { left, right, val } = stk.pop(); ans.push(val); left && stk.push(left); right && stk.push(right); } ans.reverse(); return ans; } // Solution 3 /** * Definition for a binary tree node. * class TreeNode { * val: number * left: TreeNode | null * right: TreeNode | null * constructor(val?: number, left?: TreeNode | null, right?: TreeNode | null) { * this.val = (val===undefined ? 0 : val) * this.left = (left===undefined ? null : left) * this.right = (right===undefined ? null : right) * } * } */ function postorderTraversal(root: TreeNode | null): number[] { const ans: number[] = []; while (root !== null) { const { val, left, right } = root; if (right === null) { ans.push(val); root = left; } else { let next = right; while (next.left !== null && next.left !== root) { next = next.left; } if (next.left === null) { ans.push(val); next.left = root; root = right; } else { next.left = null; root = left; } } } return ans.reverse(); } -
// Definition for a binary tree node. // #[derive(Debug, PartialEq, Eq)] // pub struct TreeNode { // pub val: i32, // pub left: Option<Rc<RefCell<TreeNode>>>, // pub right: Option<Rc<RefCell<TreeNode>>>, // } // // impl TreeNode { // #[inline] // pub fn new(val: i32) -> Self { // TreeNode { // val, // left: None, // right: None // } // } // } use std::rc::Rc; use std::cell::RefCell; impl Solution { fn dfs(root: &Option<Rc<RefCell<TreeNode>>>, res: &mut Vec<i32>) { if root.is_none() { return; } let node = root.as_ref().unwrap().borrow(); Self::dfs(&node.left, res); Self::dfs(&node.right, res); res.push(node.val); } pub fn postorder_traversal(root: Option<Rc<RefCell<TreeNode>>>) -> Vec<i32> { let mut res = vec![]; Self::dfs(&root, &mut res); res } }