What is splaytree?
The splaytree npm package provides an implementation of a splay tree, which is a self-adjusting binary search tree. It allows for efficient access, insertion, and deletion operations by moving frequently accessed elements closer to the root, thus optimizing subsequent operations.
What are splaytree's main functionalities?
Insertion
This feature allows you to insert elements into the splay tree. The tree adjusts itself so that the most recently accessed element is moved to the root.
const SplayTree = require('splaytree');
const tree = new SplayTree();
tree.insert(10);
tree.insert(20);
tree.insert(5);
console.log(tree.root.key); // 5
Search
This feature allows you to search for elements in the splay tree. The tree adjusts itself so that the most recently accessed element is moved to the root.
const SplayTree = require('splaytree');
const tree = new SplayTree();
tree.insert(10);
tree.insert(20);
tree.insert(5);
const node = tree.find(20);
console.log(node.key); // 20
console.log(tree.root.key); // 20
Deletion
This feature allows you to delete elements from the splay tree. The tree adjusts itself to maintain its properties after the deletion.
const SplayTree = require('splaytree');
const tree = new SplayTree();
tree.insert(10);
tree.insert(20);
tree.insert(5);
tree.remove(10);
console.log(tree.find(10)); // null
Other packages similar to splaytree
avl
The avl package provides an implementation of an AVL tree, which is a self-balancing binary search tree. Unlike splay trees, AVL trees maintain a strict balance by ensuring that the heights of the two child subtrees of any node differ by at most one. This guarantees O(log n) time complexity for search, insertion, and deletion operations.
bintrees
The bintrees package offers implementations of various binary search trees, including AVL trees and Red-Black trees. Red-Black trees are another type of self-balancing binary search tree that ensures O(log n) time complexity for search, insertion, and deletion operations. Unlike splay trees, Red-Black trees do not move frequently accessed elements closer to the root.
js-sdsl
The js-sdsl package provides a variety of data structures, including splay trees, AVL trees, and Red-Black trees. This package offers a more comprehensive set of data structures compared to splaytree, making it a versatile choice for different use cases.
Fast splay tree

Splay-tree: fast(non-recursive) and simple(< 1000 lines of code)
Implementation is adapted directly from Wikipedia with the same API as w8r/avl, to run the benchmarks against other trees.
This tree is based on top-down splaying algorithm by D.Sleator. It supports
- splitting, merging
- updating of the keys
- bulk loading of the items into an empty or non-empty tree
- insertion with duplicates or no duplicates
- lookup without splaying

Space | O(n) | O(n) |
Search | O(log n) | amortized O(log n) |
Insert | O(log n) | amortized O(log n) |
Delete | O(log n) | amortized O(log n) |
Install
npm i -S splaytree
import SplayTree from "splaytree";
const tree = new SplayTree();
Or get it from CDN
<script src="https://unpkg.com/splaytree"></script>
<script>
var tree = new SplayTree();
...
</script>
Or use the compiled version 'dist/splay.js'.
Try it in your browser
API
new SplayTree([comparator])
, where comparator
is optional comparison function
tree.insert(key:any, [data:any]):Node
- Insert item, allow duplicate keys
tree.add(key:any, [data:any]):Node
- Insert item if it is not present
tree.remove(key:any)
- Remove item
tree.find(key):Node|Null
- Return node by its key
tree.findStatic(key):Node|Null
- Return node by its key (doesn't re-balance the tree)
tree.at(index:Number):Node|Null
- Return node by its index in sorted order of keys
tree.contains(key):Boolean
- Whether a node with the given key is in the tree
tree.forEach(function(node) {...}):Tree
In-order traversal
tree.keys():Array<key>
- Returns the array of keys in order
tree.values():Array<*>
- Returns the array of data fields in order
tree.range(lo, high, function(node) {} [, context]):Tree
- Walks the range of keys in order. Stops, if the visitor function returns a non-zero value.
tree.pop():Node
- Removes smallest node
tree.min():key
- Returns min key
tree.max():key
- Returns max key
tree.minNode():Node
- Returns the node with smallest key
tree.maxNode():Node
- Returns the node with highest key
tree.prev(node):Node
- Predecessor node
tree.next(node):Node
- Successor node
tree.load(keys:Array<*>, [values:Array<*>][,presort=false]):Tree
- Bulk-load items. It expects values and keys to be sorted, but if presort
is true
, it will sort keys and values using the comparator(in-place, your arrays are going to be altered).
Comparator
function(a:key,b:key):Number
- Comparator function between two keys, it returns
0
if the keys are equal
<0
if a < b
>0
if a > b
The comparator function is extremely important, in case of errors you might end
up with a wrongly constructed tree or would not be able to retrieve your items.
It is crucial to test the return values of your comparator(a,b)
and comparator(b,a)
to make sure it's working correctly, otherwise you may have bugs that are very
unpredictable and hard to catch.
Duplicate keys
insert()
method allows duplicate keys. This can be useful in certain applications (example: overlapping
points in 2D).
add()
method will not allow duplicate keys - if key is already present in the tree, no new node is created
Example
import Tree from "splaytree";
const t = new Tree();
t.insert(5);
t.insert(-10);
t.insert(0);
t.insert(33);
t.insert(2);
console.log(t.keys());
console.log(t.size);
console.log(t.min());
console.log(t.max());
t.remove(0);
console.log(t.size);
Custom comparator (reverse sort)
import Tree from "splaytree";
const t = new Tree((a, b) => b - a);
t.insert(5);
t.insert(-10);
t.insert(0);
t.insert(33);
t.insert(2);
console.log(t.keys());
Bulk insert
import Tree from "splaytree";
const t = new Tree();
t.load([3, 2, -10, 20], ["C", "B", "A", "D"]);
console.log(t.keys());
console.log(t.values());
Benchmarks
npm run benchmark
Insert (x1000)
- Bintrees RB x 5,779 ops/sec ±1.37% (85 runs sampled) mean 0.173ms
- Splay (current) x 9,264 ops/sec ±2.70% (88 runs sampled) mean 0.108ms
- AVL x 7,459 ops/sec ±1.07% (91 runs sampled) mean 0.134ms
- Fastest is Splay (current)
Random read (x1000)
- Bintrees RB x 19,317 ops/sec ±0.52% (90 runs sampled) mean 0.052ms
- Splay (current) x 7,635 ops/sec ±0.92% (91 runs sampled) mean 0.131ms
- Splay (current) - static x 16,350 ops/sec ±0.75% (87 runs sampled) mean 0.061ms
- AVL x 15,782 ops/sec ±0.57% (91 runs sampled) mean 0.063ms
- Fastest is Bintrees RB
Remove (x1000)
- Bintrees RB x 195,282 ops/sec ±0.85% (90 runs sampled) mean 0.005ms
- Splay (current) x 364,630 ops/sec ±6.05% (87 runs sampled) mean 0.003ms
- AVL x 95,946 ops/sec ±0.76% (93 runs sampled) mean 0.010ms
- Fastest is Splay (current)
Bulk-load (x10000)
- 1 by 1 x 266 ops/sec ±1.58% (83 runs sampled) mean 3.755ms
- bulk load (build) x 287 ops/sec ±3.02% (76 runs sampled) mean 3.487ms
- Fastest is bulk load (build)
Bulk-add (x1000) to 1000
- 1 by 1 x 2,859 ops/sec ±3.35% (77 runs sampled) mean 0.350ms
- bulk add (rebuild) x 3,755 ops/sec ±2.67% (67 runs sampled) mean 0.266ms
- Fastest is bulk add (rebuild)
Bulk-remove-insert (10%) of 10000
- 1 by 1 x 771 ops/sec ±4.31% (68 runs sampled) mean 1.297ms
- bulk add (rebuild) x 706 ops/sec ±1.12% (88 runs sampled) mean 1.416ms
- Fastest is 1 by 1
Bulk-update (10%) of 10000
- 1 by 1 x 717 ops/sec ±1.96% (79 runs sampled) mean 1.394ms
- split-merge x 705 ops/sec ±1.68% (85 runs sampled) mean 1.419ms
- Fastest is 1 by 1
Adding google closure library to the benchmark is, of course, unfair, cause the
node.js version of it is not optimized by the compiler, but in this case it
plays the role of straight-forward robust implementation.
Develop
npm i
npm t
npm run build
TODO
License
The MIT License (MIT)
Copyright (c) 2019 Alexander Milevski info@w8r.name
Permission is hereby granted, free of charge, to any person obtaining a copy of
this software and associated documentation files (the "Software"), to deal in
the Software without restriction, including without limitation the rights to
use, copy, modify, merge, publish, distribute, sublicense, and/or sell copies of
the Software, and to permit persons to whom the Software is furnished to do so,
subject to the following conditions:
The above copyright notice and this permission notice shall be included in all
copies or substantial portions of the Software.
THE SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED "AS IS", WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR
IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO THE WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY, FITNESS
FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE AND NONINFRINGEMENT. IN NO EVENT SHALL THE AUTHORS OR
COPYRIGHT HOLDERS BE LIABLE FOR ANY CLAIM, DAMAGES OR OTHER LIABILITY, WHETHER
IN AN ACTION OF CONTRACT, TORT OR OTHERWISE, ARISING FROM, OUT OF OR IN
CONNECTION WITH THE SOFTWARE OR THE USE OR OTHER DEALINGS IN THE SOFTWARE.