how to return the pointer of a specific value in a tree in C?

Question

using this struct:

typedef struct node {
  int content;
  struct node* right;
  struct node* left;
}Node;

I'm trying to write a code that return the pointer of the the node if node ->content== x I have tried this so far but I don't think its right:

 Node* find (Node* p,int x)
{
  Node* L,*R;
    if(p==NULL)
    retutn NULL;
  L=find(p->left,x);
    if(L->content == x)
    return L;
  R=find(p->right,x);
    if(R->content == x)
  return R;
}

can u help me correct my code?

Answer 1

First, the code doesn't even compile because of retutn .

---

L=(p->left,x);    // Equivalent to: L = x;

should be

L=find(p->left,x);

Same idea for the right side.

---

L could be NULL.

if(L->content == x)

should be

if(L != NULL)

or just

if(L)

Same idea for the right side.

---

You never check if the current node is a match. You need to add the following:

if ( p->content == x )
   return p;

---

The following is correct:

Node* L, *R;

However, it's very easy to accidentally do

Node* L, R;

Maybe you should avoid grouping such declarations. On the plus side, this should be caught at compile-time (unless you avoid turning on even the most basic warnings).

---

All together,

Node* find(Node* p, int x)
{
   if ( !p )
      return NULL;

   if ( p->content == x )
      return p;

   Node* L = find( p->left, x );
   if ( L )
      return L;

   Node* R = find( p->right, x );
   if ( R )
      return R;

   return NULL;
}

Answer 2

The part of the function starting from these statements

L=find(p->left,x);
  if(L->content == x)
  return L;

is incorrect. For starters it is unclear why the node pointed to by the pointer p is not checked. And the call of the function can return a null pointer. So this if statement can invoke undefined behavior.

The function definition depends on whether it is a binary search tree or not. That is whether nodes of the tree are ordered.

If it is not a binary search tree then the function can be defined the following way

Node * find( const Node *root, int x )
{
    if ( root == NULL )
    {
        return NULL;
    }
    else if ( root->content == x )
    {
        return ( Node * )root;
    }
    else
    {
        Node *p = find( root->left, x );
        p == NULL ? return find( root->right, x ) : p;
    }
}

If the tree is a binary search tree then the function can look the following way

Node * find( const Node *root, int x )
{
    if ( root == NULL )
    {
        return NULL;
    }
    else if ( x < root->content )
    {
        return find( root->left, x );
    }
    else if ( root->content < x )
    {
        return find( root->right, x );
    }
    else
    {
        return ( Node * )root;
    }
}