CS 21: Red Black Tree Deletion February 25, 1998

Deletion from Red-Black

Trees

C RR

B D O U

S X

erm 12.235
 CS 21: Red Black Tree Deletion February 25, 1998

Setting Up Deletion
As with binary search trees, we can always
delete a node that has at least one external child

If the key to be deleted is stored at a node that

has no external children, we move there the key
of its inorder predecessor (or successor), and
delete that node instead
Example: to delete key 7, we move key 5 to
node u, and delete node v

u u
7 5

4 8 4 8

v
2 5 9 2 9

erm 12.236
 CS 21: Red Black Tree Deletion February 25, 1998

Deletion Algorithm
1. Remove v with a removeAboveExternal op-
eration
2. If v was red, color u black. Else, color u
double black.

v
u u

v
u u

3. While a double black edge exists, perform

one of the following actions ...

erm 12.237
 CS 21: Red Black Tree Deletion February 25, 1998

How to Eliminate the

Double Black Edge

• The intuitive idea is to perform a “color

compensation’’
• Find a red edge nearby, and change the
pair ( red , double black ) into
( black , black )
• As for insertion, we have two cases:
• restructuring, and
• recoloring (demotion, inverse of
promotion)
• Restructuring resolves the problem lo-
cally, while recoloring may propagate it
two levels up
• Slightly more complicated than inser-
tion, since two restructurings may occur
(instead of just one)

erm 12.238
 CS 21: Red Black Tree Deletion February 25, 1998

Case 1: black sibling with a red

child
• If sibling is black and one of its children is
red, perform a restructuring

p s

v s p z

z v

p z
v s
p s
z
v

erm 12.239
 CS 21: Red Black Tree Deletion February 25, 1998

(2,4) Tree Interpretation

... 30 ...
x
30
... ...
y r
20 40
10 20 z
10

40

... 20 ... b
... ... 20

a c
10 30
10 30
r
40

40

erm 12.240
 CS 21: Red Black Tree Deletion February 25, 1998

Case 2: black sibling with

black childern
• If sibling and its children are black, per-
form a recoloring
• If parent becomes double black, continue
upward

p p
v s v s

p p
v s v s

erm 12.241
 CS 21: Red Black Tree Deletion February 25, 1998

(2,4) Tree Interpretation

10

10 30 ...
x
30
...
y r
20 40

20

40

10

10 ...
x
30
...
y r
20 40

20 30

40

erm 12.242
 CS 21: Red Black Tree Deletion February 25, 1998

Case 3: red sibling

• If sibling is red, perform an adjustment

• Now the sibling is black and one the of pre-
vious cases applies
• If the next case is recoloring, there is no
propagation upward (parent is now red)

p s
v s p
v

erm 12.243
 CS 21: Red Black Tree Deletion February 25, 1998

How About an Example?

Remove 9 6

4 8

2 5 7 9

4 8

2 5 7

erm 12.244
 CS 21: Red Black Tree Deletion February 25, 1998

Example

What do we know?
• Sibling is black with black
children

What do we do?
• Recoloring

6 6

4 8 4 8

2 5 7 2 5 7

erm 12.245
 CS 21: Red Black Tree Deletion February 25, 1998

Example

Delete 8
• no double black

6 6

4 8 4 7

2 5 7 2 5

erm 12.246
 CS 21: Red Black Tree Deletion February 25, 1998

Example

Delete 7
• Restructuring

6 6

4 7 4

2 5 2 5

2 6

erm 12.247
 CS 21: Red Black Tree Deletion February 25, 1998

Example
14

7 16

4 12 15 18

5 17

14

7 16

4 15 18

5 17

erm 12.248
 CS 21: Red Black Tree Deletion February 25, 1998

Example
14

7 16

4 15 18

5 17

14

5 16

4 7 15 18

17

erm 12.249
 CS 21: Red Black Tree Deletion February 25, 1998

Time Complexity of Deletion

Take a guess at the time complexity of deletion

in a red-black tree . . .

erm 12.250
 CS 21: Red Black Tree Deletion February 25, 1998

O(logN)
What else could it be?!

erm 12.251
 CS 21: Red Black Tree Deletion February 25, 1998

Colors and Weights

Color Weight

red 0
black 1
double black 2

Every root-to-leaf path has the same weight

There are no two consecutive red edges

• Therefore, the length of any root-to-leaf
path is at most twice the weight

erm 12.252
 CS 21: Red Black Tree Deletion February 25, 1998

Bottom-Up Rebalancing
of Red-Black Trees
• An insertion or deletion may cause a local
perturbation (two consecutive red edges, or
a double-black edge)

• The perturbation is either

• resolved locally (restructuring), or
• propagated to a higher level in the tree
by recoloring (promotion or demotion)

• O(1) time for a restructuring or recoloring

• At most one restructuring per insertion, and

at most two restructurings per deletion

• O(log N) recolorings

• Total time: O(log N)

erm 12.253
 CS 21: Red Black Tree Deletion February 25, 1998

Red-Black Trees

Operation Time

Search O(log N)
Insert O(log N)
Delete O(log N)

erm 12.254