👀 Views: 355 💬 Answers: 1 📅 Created: 2025-07-05

python binary-search-tree recursion Python

I'm deploying to production and I'm working on a personal project and I'm implementing a Binary Search Tree (BST) in Python and working with an scenario when trying to insert duplicate values... My expectation is to handle duplicates by either ignoring them or placing them in a specific way (e.g., to the right subtree). However, when I try to insert a duplicate value, my function enters an infinite recursion, which ultimately crashes the program. Here's the relevant code snippet for the insertion method: ```python class TreeNode: def __init__(self, value): self.value = value self.left = None self.right = None class BinarySearchTree: def __init__(self): self.root = None def insert(self, value): if self.root is None: self.root = TreeNode(value) else: self._insert_recursively(self.root, value) def _insert_recursively(self, node, value): if value < node.value: if node.left is None: node.left = TreeNode(value) else: self._insert_recursively(node.left, value) elif value > node.value: if node.right is None: node.right = TreeNode(value) else: self._insert_recursively(node.right, value) else: # Here I want to handle duplicates, but it causes an infinite loop self._insert_recursively(node.right, value) # Moving duplicates to the right ``` When I insert a duplicate value (e.g., inserting '5' after it already exists), the program hangs and eventually raises a RecursionError: maximum recursion depth exceeded in comparison. I've tried adding print statements to trace the function calls, but it just continues indefinitely without terminating. How can I handle duplicate values correctly without causing this infinite recursion? Is there a better design pattern to follow for managing duplicates in a BST? Any advice would be greatly appreciated! This is for a desktop app running on Ubuntu 20.04. Has anyone dealt with something similar? This is part of a larger application I'm building. Am I missing something obvious? Cheers for any assistance!