The ultimate data
structure cheat
sheet
Arrays, strings, linked lists, stacks & queues,
trees, graphs, maps, and heaps
Time complexity:
Worst Case Scenario Average Case Best Case Scenario
Scenario
Accessing an O(1) O(1) O(1)
element
Updating an O(1) O(1) O(1)
element
Deleting an O(n) O(n) O(1)
element
Inserting an O(n) O(n) O(1)
element
Searching for O(n) O(n) O(1)
an element
Arrays Algorithm complexity:
Time Complexity Space
Complexity
(Space-Time complexity) Worst Case Average Case Best Case
Quicksort O(n2) O(n log(n)) O(n log(n)) O(log(n))
Mergesort O(n log(n)) O(n log(n)) O(n log(n)) O(n)
Heapsort O(n log(n)) O(n log(n)) O(n log(n)) O(1)
Bubble Sort O(n2) O(n2) O(n) O(1)
Insertion Sort O(n2) O(n2) O(n) O(1)
Selection Sort O(n2) O(n2) O(n2) O(1)
Binary Search O(log(n)) O(log(n)) O(1) O(1)
Linear Search O(n) O(n) O(1) O(1)
Time complexity:
Worst Case Average Case Best Case Scenario
Scenario Scenario
Accessing O(1) O(1) O(1)
Deleting O(n) O(n) O(1)
Inserting O(n) O(n) O(1)
Searching O(n * m) O(n) O(1)
(n = string length
m = pattern length)
Slicing O(n) O(n) O(n)
(n = string length)
Concatenating O(n + m) O(n + m) O(n)
(n, m = string lengths)
Comparison O(n) O(n) O(n)
Strings
(n = shorter string length)
Inserting (Trie) O(m) O(m) O(1)
(m = key length)
(Space-time complexity)
Searching (Trie) O(m) O(m) O(1)
(m = key length)
Algorithm complexity:
Time Complexity Space
Complexity
Worst Case Average Best Case
Case
Radix sort O(n * m) O(n * m) O(n * m) O(n + m)
(m = longest string length)
Naive string search O(m*(n-m+1)) O(n * m) O(n) O(1)
(m = size of pattern)
Knuth-Morris-Pratt search O(m + n) O(n) O(n) O(m)
Boyer-Moore string search O(n * m) O(n) O(n/m) O(m)
Rubin-Karp Algorithm O(m*(n-m+1)) O(n + m) O(m) O(m)
Time complexity:
Worst Case Average Case Best Case Scenario
Scenario Scenario
Delete (Stack) O(1) O(1) O(1)
Insert (Stack) O(1) O(1) O(1)
Search (Stack) O(n) O(n) O(1)
Peek/Top (Stack) O(1) O(1) O(1)
Stacks & Delete (Queue) O(1) O(1) O(1)
Queues Insert (Queue) O(1) O(1) O(1)
Search (Queue) O(n) O(n) O(1)
(Space-time complexity)
Algorithm Complexity:
Time Complexity Space
Complexity
Worst Case Average Case Best Case
Linear Search O(n) O(n) O(1) O(1)
Stack: LIFO (Last In First Out)
Queue: FIFO (First In First Out)
Time complexity:
Worst Case Scenario Average Case Scenario Best Case Scenario
Accessing O(n) O(n) O(1)
Deleting O(1) O(1) O(1)
(after search)
Inserting O(1) O(1) O(1)
(after search)
Searching O(n) O(n) O(1)
Traversing O(n) O(n) O(n)
Linked
Access (Skip List) O(n) O(log n) O(log n)
Delete (Skip List) O(n) O(log n) O(log n)
Lists Insert (Skip List)
Search (Skip List)
O(n)
O(n)
O(log n)
O(log n)
O(log n)
O(log n)
(Space-time complexity)
Algorithm Complexity:
Time Complexity Space Complexity
Worst Case Average Case Best Case
Mergesort O(n log n) O(n log n) O(n log n) O(n)
Bubble Sort O(n²) O(n²) O(n) O(1)
Selection Sort O(n²) O(n²) O(n²) O(1)
Insertion Sort O(n²) O(n²) O(n) O(1)
Linear Search O(n) O(n) O(1) O(1)
Time complexity:
Worst Case Average Case Best Case
Scenario Scenario Scenario
Binary Search Delete O(n) O(log n) O(log n)
Tree,
Cartesian Tree,
KD Tree Insert O(n) O(log n) O(log n)
Search O(n) O(log n) O(log n)
B-Tree, Delete O(log n) O(log n) O(log n)
Red-Black Tree,
Splay Tree,
AVL Tree Insert O(log n) O(log n) O(log n)
Search O(log n) O(log n) O(log n)
Trees Traversal O(n) O(n) O(n)
(Space-time complexity)
Algorithm Complexity:
Time Complexity Space
Complexity
Worst Case Average Best Case
Case
Depth-First Search O(n) O(n) O(n) O(n)
(In-order, pre-order, and
post-order traversal)
Breadth-First Search O(n) O(n) O(n) O(n)
(Level-order traversal)
Tree Sort O(n2) O(n log n) O(n log n) O(n)
Splaysort O(n log n) O(n log n) O(n) O(n)
Cartesian Tree Sort O(n log n) O(n log n) O(n) O(n)
Time Complexity:
Worst Case Average Case Best Case
Scenario Scenario Scenario
Insert Vertex Adjacency List O(1) O(1) O(1)
Adjacency Matrix O(V2) O(V2) O(V2)
Incidence Matrix O(V*E) O(V*E) O(V*E)
Remove Vertex Adjacency List O(E) O(E) O(E)
Adjacency Matrix O(V2) O(V2) O(V2)
Incidence Matrix O(V*E) O(V*E) O(V*E)
Insert Edge Adjacency List O(1) O(1) O(1)
Adjacency Matrix O(1) O(1) O(1)
Incidence Matrix O(V*E) O(V*E) O(V*E)
Graphs
Remove Edge Adjacency List O(V) O(V) O(V)
Adjacency Matrix O(1) O(1) O(1)
Incidence Matrix O(V*E) O(V*E) O(V*E)
(Space-time complexity)
Check if Adjacency List O(V) O(V) O(V)
Vertices
Adjacent Adjacency Matrix O(1) O(1) O(1)
Incidence Matrix O(E) O(E) O(E)
Algorithm Complexity:
Time Complexity Space Complexity
Worst Case Average Best Case
Case
Breadth-First Search O(V+E) O(V+E) O(V+E) O(V)
Depth-First Search O(V+E) O(V+E) O(V+E) O(V)
A* Search O(E) O(E) O(E) O(V)
Dijkstra’s algorithm O(V2) O(E * log(V)) O(E * log(V)) O(V)
Floyd–Warshall O(V3) O(V3) O(V3) O(V2)
Time complexity:
Worst Case Average Case Best Case Scenario
Scenario Scenario
Updating an element O(n) O(1) O(1)
Inserting an element O(n) O(1) O(1)
Deleting an element O(n) O(1) O(1)
Searching for an O(n) O(1) O(1)
element
Insert (TreeMap) O(log n) O(log n) O(1)
Delete (TreeMap) O(log n) O(log n) O(1)
Maps
Search (TreeMap) O(log n) O(log n) O(1)
(Space-time complexity) Algorithm Complexity:
Time Complexity Space
Complexity
Worst Case Average Case Best Case
Bucket Sort O(n2) O(n + k) O(n + k) O(n)
(k = buckets)
Insertion Sort O(n2) O(n2) O(n) O(1)
Selection Sort O(n2) O(n2) O(n2) O(1)
Heapsort O(n log(n)) O(n log(n)) O(n log(n)) O(1)
Hash-based Search O(n) O(1) O(1) O(1)
Binary Search O(log(n)) O(log(n)) O(1) O(1)
Linear Search O(n) O(n) O(1) O(1)
Rabin-Karp Algorithm O(m*(n-m+1)) O(n + m) O(m) O(m)
Time complexity:
Worst Case Average Case Best Case Scenario
Scenario Scenario
Insert O(log n) O(logn) O(1)
Delete O(log n) O(log n) O(1)
Find min/max O(1) O(1) O(1)
Search O(n) O(n) O(1)
Insert O(log n) O(1) O(1)
(Fibonacci/Binomial)
Increase/Decrease key O(log n) O(log n) O(1)
Heaps Extract min/max O(log n) O(log n) O(log n)
(Space-time complexity)
Algorithm Complexity:
Time Complexity Space
Complexity
Worst Case Average Best Case
Case
Heapsort O(n log(n)) O(n log(n)) O(n log(n)) O(1)
Smoothsort O(n log(n)) O(n log(n)) O(n) O(n)
Quick select O(n2) O(n) O(n) O(1)
Linear Search O(n) O(n) O(1) O(1)
Dijkstra’s shortest O(V2) O(E * log(V)) O(E * log(V)) O(V)
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