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LESSON 437 OF 569 · BINARY TREES

Serialize and Deserialize Binary Tree

Practice O(n)

Serializing a tree turns it into a string, so it can be saved in a file or sent over a network. Deserializing rebuilds the same tree from that string.

Implement the class Codec:

  • serialize(root) gets the root of a binary tree, which may be empty, and returns a string.
  • deserialize(data) gets a string made by serialize and returns the root of the same tree: the same shape, with the same value in every node.

The string's format is up to you. The tests serialize each tree with one Codec, rebuild it with a second Codec's deserialize, and print the rebuilt tree level by level, from left to right, with null where a child is missing and the trailing nulls left out. The trees below are written the same way. serialize must return a string. The starter code spells these names the way your language does.

 

Example 1:

Input: root = [1,2,3,null,null,4,5]
Output: [1,2,3,null,null,4,5]
    1
   / \
  2   3
     / \
    4   5

Explanation: One string that works lists the nodes in preorder, with # for a missing child: "1,2,#,#,3,4,#,#,5,#,#". Reading it back gives the same tree.

Example 2:

Input: root = []
Output: []
Explanation: The empty tree needs a string too, for example "#", and deserialize gives back an empty tree.

Example 3:

Input: root = [-1,0,null,null,-100]
Output: [-1,0,null,null,-100]
    -1
    /
   0
    \
   -100

Explanation: Values can be negative and have several digits. With commas between the pieces, as in "-1,0,#,-100,#,#,#", every value is read back whole.

 

Constraints:

  • The number of nodes in the tree is in the range [0, 2 * 105].
  • Each node value is between -1000 and 1000.
  • The tree is at most 400 levels deep.

Note:

Both serialize and deserialize should run in O(n) time, where n is the number of nodes.

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