Prefix Tree (CloudMonk.io)

Prefix Tree

A prefix tree, commonly known as a trie, is a type of search tree—an ordered tree data structure used to store a dynamic set or associative array where the keys are usually strings. Unlike a binary search tree, in a trie, the position within the tree defines the key with which a node is associated, meaning that every node in the trie represents a common prefix of the strings it contains. This makes tries highly efficient for tasks involving prefix searching, such as autocomplete suggestions or spell checking, because they allow for rapid retrieval of all keys that share a common prefix. The structure of a trie means that it can provide faster search times for strings, especially when dealing with a large set of short keys, because common prefixes are stored only once. Tries are particularly well-suited for implementations in languages that use a large alphabet and for applications that need to efficiently manage sets of strings where many share similar prefixes.