B-Tree: Key Features of B Trees

B-Tree
 B-trees are a type of self-balancing tree data structure that maintains sorted
data and allows for efficient insertion, deletion, and search operations.
 They are particularly useful in file management systems, databases, and disk
storage systems due to their ability to handle large amounts of data and
maintain balance efficiently.
 Here’s an overview of B-trees in the context of file management:
Key Features of B trees:
1. Balanced Structure: B-trees remain balanced through insertions and deletions, ensuring
that the tree height is kept to a minimum. This balance allows for efficient data retrieval.
2. Multi-Level Indexing: B-trees provide a hierarchical indexing mechanism, reducing the

number of disk accesses required to find a record.
3. Wide Nodes: Each node in a B-tree can contain multiple keys and child pointers, which
reduces the height of the tree and thus the number of disk reads required.
4. Sorted Order: Keys within nodes and across the tree are maintained in sorted order,
which facilitates range queries and ordered traversals.
Operations on B-trees:
1. Search: Searching for a key in a B-tree involves navigating through nodes from the root
to a leaf, making comparisons at each node. The complexity is O(log n).
2. Insertion: When inserting a key, the appropriate leaf node is found. If the node is full, it
is split, and the median key is promoted to the parent. This may propagate upwards,
maintaining balance.
3. Deletion: Deleting a key involves locating it and removing it. If the key is in an internal
node, it may be replaced by a key from a leaf node. Nodes may be merged or
redistributed to maintain balance.
Applications in File Management:
1. Indexing in Databases: B-trees are commonly used to implement indexing in databases.

They allow for efficient retrieval of records based on key values.
2. File Systems: B-trees are used in file systems to manage metadata and file indices. For
example, NTFS (New Technology File System) uses a variant of B-trees known as B+
trees.
3. Disk-based Storage: B-trees are well-suited for disk-based storage systems because they
minimize the number of disk accesses required to perform operations. By keeping nodes
wide, they reduce the height of the tree and thus the number of disk reads/writes.
B-trees are crucial in file management for their efficiency and balance in handling large datasets.
They are extensively used in databases, file systems, and other storage systems to ensure quick
data retrieval and efficient use of disk space. Understanding their structure and operations helps
in designing systems that are both performant and scalable.
Operations
Searching in B Trees is similar to that in Binary search tree. For example, if we search for an
item 49 in the following B Tree. The process will something like following :
1. Compare item 49 with root node 78. since 49 < 78 hence, move to its left sub-tree.
2. Since, 40<49<56, traverse right sub-tree of 40.
3. 49>45, move to right. Compare 49.
4. match found, return.
Searching in a B tree depends upon the height of the tree. The search algorithm takes O(log n)
time to search any element in a B tree.
Inserting
Insertions are done at the leaf node level. The following algorithm needs to be followed in order
to insert an item into B Tree.
1. Traverse the B Tree in order to find the appropriate leaf node at which the node can be
inserted.
2. If the leaf node contain less than m-1 keys then insert the element in the increasing order.
3. Else, if the leaf node contains m-1 keys, then follow the following steps.
o Insert the new element in the increasing order of elements.
o Split the node into the two nodes at the median.
o Push the median element upto its parent node.
o If the parent node also contain m-1 number of keys, then split it too by following
the same steps.
Insert the node 8 into the B Tree of order 5 shown in the following image.
8 will be inserted to the right of 5, therefore insert 8.
The node, now contain 5 keys which is greater than (5 -1 = 4 ) keys. Therefore split the
node from the median i.e. 8 and push it up to its parent node shown as follows.
Deletion
Deletion is also performed at the leaf nodes. The node which is to be deleted can either
be a leaf node or an internal node. Following algorithm needs to be followed in order to
delete a node from a B tree.
1. Locate the leaf node.

2. If there are more than m/2 keys in the leaf node then delete the desired key from
the node.
3. If the leaf node doesn't contain m/2 keys then complete the keys by taking the
element from eight or left sibling.
o If the left sibling contains more than m/2 elements then push its largest
element up to its parent and move the intervening element down to the
node where the key is deleted.
o If the right sibling contains more than m/2 elements then push its smallest
element up to the parent and move intervening element down to the node
where the key is deleted.
4. If neither of the sibling contain more than m/2 elements then create a new leaf
node by joining two leaf nodes and the intervening element of the parent node.
5. If parent is left with less than m/2 nodes then, apply the above process on the
parent too.
If the the node which is to be deleted is an internal node, then replace the node with its
in-order successor or predecessor. Since, successor or predecessor will always be on the
leaf node hence, the process will be similar as the node is being deleted from the leaf
node.

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B-Tree

Key Features of B trees:

2. Multi-Level Indexing: B-trees provide a hierarchical indexing mechanism, reducing the

Applications in File Management:

1. Indexing in Databases: B-trees are commonly used to implement indexing in databases.

8 will be inserted to the right of 5, therefore insert 8.

1. Locate the leaf node.

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