How can I implement a tree in Python?

I recommend anytree (I am the author).

Example:

from anytree import Node, RenderTree

udo = Node("Udo")
marc = Node("Marc", parent=udo)
lian = Node("Lian", parent=marc)
dan = Node("Dan", parent=udo)
jet = Node("Jet", parent=dan)
jan = Node("Jan", parent=dan)
joe = Node("Joe", parent=dan)

print(udo)
Node('/Udo')
print(joe)
Node('/Udo/Dan/Joe')

for pre, fill, node in RenderTree(udo):
    print("%s%s" % (pre, node.name))
Udo
├── Marc
│   └── Lian
└── Dan
    ├── Jet
    ├── Jan
    └── Joe

print(dan.children)
(Node('/Udo/Dan/Jet'), Node('/Udo/Dan/Jan'), Node('/Udo/Dan/Joe'))

anytree has also a powerful API with:

  • simple tree creation
  • simple tree modification
  • pre-order tree iteration
  • post-order tree iteration
  • resolve relative and absolute node paths
  • walking from one node to an other.
  • tree rendering (see example above)
  • node attach/detach hookups

Python doesn't have the quite the extensive range of "built-in" data structures as Java does. However, because Python is dynamic, a general tree is easy to create. For example, a binary tree might be:

class Tree:
    def __init__(self):
        self.left = None
        self.right = None
        self.data = None

You can use it like this:

root = Tree()
root.data = "root"
root.left = Tree()
root.left.data = "left"
root.right = Tree()
root.right.data = "right"

If you need an arbitrary number of children per node, then use a list of children:

class Tree:
    def __init__(self, data):
        self.children = []
        self.data = data

left = Tree("left")
middle = Tree("middle")
right = Tree("right")
root = Tree("root")
root.children = [left, middle, right]

A generic tree is a node with zero or more children, each one a proper (tree) node. It isn't the same as a binary tree, they're different data structures, although both shares some terminology.

There isn't any builtin data structure for generic trees in Python, but it's easily implemented with classes.

class Tree(object):
    "Generic tree node."
    def __init__(self, name='root', children=None):
        self.name = name
        self.children = []
        if children is not None:
            for child in children:
                self.add_child(child)
    def __repr__(self):
        return self.name
    def add_child(self, node):
        assert isinstance(node, Tree)
        self.children.append(node)
#    *
#   /|\
#  1 2 +
#     / \
#    3   4
t = Tree('*', [Tree('1'),
               Tree('2'),
               Tree('+', [Tree('3'),
                          Tree('4')])])

You can try:

from collections import defaultdict
def tree(): return defaultdict(tree)
users = tree()
users['harold']['username'] = 'hrldcpr'
users['handler']['username'] = 'matthandlersux'

As suggested here: https://gist.github.com/2012250


class Node:
    """
    Class Node
    """
    def __init__(self, value):
        self.left = None
        self.data = value
        self.right = None

class Tree:
    """
    Class tree will provide a tree as well as utility functions.
    """

    def createNode(self, data):
        """
        Utility function to create a node.
        """
        return Node(data)

    def insert(self, node , data):
        """
        Insert function will insert a node into tree.
        Duplicate keys are not allowed.
        """
        #if tree is empty , return a root node
        if node is None:
            return self.createNode(data)
        # if data is smaller than parent , insert it into left side
        if data < node.data:
            node.left = self.insert(node.left, data)
        elif data > node.data:
            node.right = self.insert(node.right, data)

        return node


    def search(self, node, data):
        """
        Search function will search a node into tree.
        """
        # if root is None or root is the search data.
        if node is None or node.data == data:
            return node

        if node.data < data:
            return self.search(node.right, data)
        else:
            return self.search(node.left, data)



    def deleteNode(self,node,data):
        """
        Delete function will delete a node into tree.
        Not complete , may need some more scenarion that we can handle
        Now it is handling only leaf.
        """

        # Check if tree is empty.
        if node is None:
            return None

        # searching key into BST.
        if data < node.data:
            node.left = self.deleteNode(node.left, data)
        elif data > node.data:
            node.right = self.deleteNode(node.right, data)
        else: # reach to the node that need to delete from BST.
            if node.left is None and node.right is None:
                del node
            if node.left == None:
                temp = node.right
                del node
                return  temp
            elif node.right == None:
                temp = node.left
                del node
                return temp

        return node

    def traverseInorder(self, root):
        """
        traverse function will print all the node in the tree.
        """
        if root is not None:
            self.traverseInorder(root.left)
            print(root.data)
            self.traverseInorder(root.right)

    def traversePreorder(self, root):
        """
        traverse function will print all the node in the tree.
        """
        if root is not None:
            print(root.data)
            self.traversePreorder(root.left)
            self.traversePreorder(root.right)

    def traversePostorder(self, root):
        """
        traverse function will print all the node in the tree.
        """
        if root is not None:
            self.traversePostorder(root.left)
            self.traversePostorder(root.right)
            print(root.data)


def main():
    root = None
    tree = Tree()
    root = tree.insert(root, 10)
    print(root)
    tree.insert(root, 20)
    tree.insert(root, 30)
    tree.insert(root, 40)
    tree.insert(root, 70)
    tree.insert(root, 60)
    tree.insert(root, 80)

    print("Traverse Inorder")
    tree.traverseInorder(root)

    print("Traverse Preorder")
    tree.traversePreorder(root)

    print("Traverse Postorder")
    tree.traversePostorder(root)


if __name__ == "__main__":
    main()