Difficulty: Medium
Category: Tree, DFS, BFS
Companies: Amazon, Facebook, Google, Microsoft, Apple

Given the root of a binary tree, the value of a target node, and an integer k, return an array of the values of all nodes that have a distance k from the target node.

You can return the answer in any order.

Examples

Example 1:

Input: root = [3,5,1,6,2,0,8,null,null,7,4], target = 5, k = 2
Output: [7,4,1]
Explanation: The nodes that are a distance 2 from the target node (value 5) have values 7, 4, and 1.

Example 2:

Input: root = [1], target = 1, k = 3
Output: []

Constraints

  • The number of nodes in the tree is in the range [1, 500].
  • 0 <= Node.val <= 500
  • All the values Node.val are unique.
  • target is the value of one of the nodes in the tree.
  • k >= 0

Solution Approaches

Approach 1: Convert Tree to Graph with DFS

Key Insight: Convert the binary tree into an undirected graph, then perform BFS/DFS from the target node to find all nodes at distance k.

Algorithm:

  1. Build adjacency list by traversing the tree
  2. Store parent-child relationships bidirectionally
  3. Perform DFS starting from target node
  4. Track visited nodes to avoid cycles
  5. Collect nodes at exact distance k

Time Complexity: O(n)
Space Complexity: O(n)

/**
 * Definition for a binary tree node.
 * struct TreeNode {
 *     int val;
 *     TreeNode *left;
 *     TreeNode *right;
 *     TreeNode(int x) : val(x), left(NULL), right(NULL) {}
 * };
 */

class Solution {
public:
    vector<int> distanceK(TreeNode* root, TreeNode* target, int k) {
        buildGraph(root, nullptr);
        visited.insert(target->val);
        dfs(target->val, 0, k);
        return rtn;
    }
private:
    unordered_map<int, vector<int>> graph;
    vector<int> rtn;
    unordered_set<int> visited;

    void buildGraph(TreeNode* curr, TreeNode* parent) {
        if(curr && parent) {
            graph[curr->val].push_back(parent->val);
            graph[parent->val].push_back(curr->val);
        }
        if(curr->left) buildGraph(curr->left, curr);
        if(curr->right) buildGraph(curr->right, curr);
    }

    void dfs(int curr, int dist, int K) {
        if(dist == K) {
            rtn.push_back(curr);
            return;
        }
        for(int neighbor: graph[curr]) {
            if(!visited.contains(neighbor)) {
                visited.insert(neighbor);
                dfs(neighbor, dist + 1, K);
            }
        }
    }
};

Solution Explanation

Approach: Recursive DFS (this problem)

Key idea: Difficulty:** Medium

How the code works: Difficulty: Medium Category: Tree, DFS, BFS

  • Model entities as nodes and relationships as edges.
  • Pick traversal (BFS/DFS) or shortest-path (Dijkstra) based on weights.
  • Union-Find helps when connectivity updates are frequent.

Walkthrough — input root = [3,5,1,6,2,0,8,null,null,7,4], target = 5, k = 2, expected output [7,4,1]:

The nodes that are a distance 2 from the target node (value 5) have values 7, 4, and 1.

Implementation Details

Building Parent-Child Relationships

// Store bidirectional edges
if(curr && parent) {
    graph[curr->val].push_back(parent->val);
    graph[parent->val].push_back(curr->val);
}

DFS with Distance Control

void dfs(int curr, int dist, int K) {
    if(dist == K) {
        rtn.push_back(curr);
        return;
    }
    // Recursively explore all neighbors
    for(int neighbor: graph[curr]) {
        if(!visited.contains(neighbor)) {
            visited.insert(neighbor);
            dfs(neighbor, dist + 1, K);
        }
    }
}

// Explore: parent, left child, right child
dfs(parent[curr], dist - 1, rtn, visited);
dfs(curr->left, dist - 1, rtn, visited);
dfs(curr->right, dist - 1, rtn, visited);

Edge Cases

  1. Target is Root: Still works, no parent path
  2. k = 0: Returns only target node
  3. Single Node Tree: Returns empty array if k > 0
  4. k Beyond Tree Depth: Returns empty array
  5. Target at Leaf: Must go up to parent then down

Follow-up Questions

  • What if the tree had more than 2 children per node?
  • How would you modify for a directed graph?
  • What if nodes could have duplicate values?
  • How would you find nodes within distance k (not exactly k)?

Common Mistakes

  • Skipping edge cases (empty input, single element, boundaries).
  • Off-by-one errors in loops and index ranges.
  • Forgetting to handle the case when no valid answer exists.

Optimization Techniques

  1. Graph Conversion: O(n) one-time preprocessing
  2. Visited Tracking: O(1) lookup prevents redundant work
  3. Early Termination: Stop at distance k exactly
  4. Bidirectional Edges: Store parent-child relationships for undirected graph behavior

Code Quality Notes

  1. Clarity: Graph approach is most intuitive for new learners
  2. Modularity: Separate graph building from search logic
  3. Memory: Both approaches use O(n) space for n nodes
  4. Performance: All solutions are optimal O(n) time

This problem beautifully demonstrates how binary trees can be treated as graphs when we need multi-directional traversal capabilities.

Key Takeaways

  • Pattern: Recursive DFS (this problem)
  • Difficulty:** Medium
  • Category:** Tree, DFS, BFS

References

Template Reference

Thinking Process

Difficulty: Medium

Category: Tree, DFS, BFS

  • Model entities as nodes and relationships as edges.
  • Pick traversal (BFS/DFS) or shortest-path (Dijkstra) based on weights.
  • Union-Find helps when connectivity updates are frequent.
Graph BFS layers S a b t BFS: expand by layers (queue)

Common Approaches

Typical techniques for this pattern:

Approach Time Space Notes
Recursive DFS (this problem) O(n) O(h) stack Natural for trees and graphs
Iterative DFS (stack) O(n) O(n) Avoid recursion depth limits
DFS with memoization O(n) O(n) Overlapping subproblems on graphs
Backtracking DFS O(2^n) typical O(n) Enumerate choices with pruning