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模式:B+ 树 (B+ Tree)

高级

一句话

自平衡多路树,高扇出——内部节点负责路由,叶节点存储数据,所有叶节点通过链表相连以支持高效范围扫描。

互动演示

现实类比

图书馆多层级的卡片目录柜。最上层抽屉标着「A-M」和「N-Z」。打开「A-M」,里面有「A-D」、「E-H」等。你不断缩小范围直到找到实际的卡片,卡片之间还有链接方便顺序浏览。

核心思想

B+ 树将路由与存储分离。内部节点仅保存键和子节点指针,用于引导搜索方向。叶节点保存实际的键值对,并通过链表相连,实现高效的顺序扫描。高扇出(每个节点数百个键)使树非常扁平——十亿条记录通常只需 3-4 层——最大限度减少磁盘 I/O。

text
                    ┌──────────────┐
                    │   [30 | 60]  │          Internal (keys only)
                    └──┬─────┬──┬──┘
                       │     │  │
          ┌────────────┘     │  └────────────┐
          ▼                  ▼               ▼
     ┌─────────┐      ┌──────────┐     ┌─────────┐
     │[10 | 20]│      │[40 | 50] │     │[70 | 80]│   Internal
     └─┬──┬──┬─┘      └──┬──┬──┬─┘     └─┬──┬──┬─┘
       │  │  │           │  │  │         │  │  │
       ▼  ▼  ▼           ▼  ▼  ▼         ▼  ▼  ▼
     ┌───┬───┬───┬───┬───┬───┬───┬───┬───┐
     │1-9│10-│20-│30-│40-│50-│60-│70-│80-│  Leaf nodes
     │   │ 19│ 29│ 39│ 49│ 59│ 69│ 79│ 99│  (data here)
     └─►─┴─►─┴─►─┴─►─┴─►─┴─►─┴─►─┴─►─┴───┘
       Linked list for range scans ──────►
属性
查找O(log_B n) — B = 扇出因子
插入O(log_B n) — 可能触发节点分裂
范围扫描O(log_B n + k) — k = 结果数量
空间O(n)
扇出通常每个节点 100-1000 个键

动手试试 — 插入键值观察 B+ 树如何通过节点分裂保持平衡:

生产验证

项目源码用途
PostgreSQLnbtinsert.c#L22-L55B-link 树(Lehman-Yao 的 B+ 树变体)。_bt_doinsert 通过兄弟节点间的右链接管理并发插入。内部页存储键 + 子指针;叶页存储堆 TID,并通过 _bt_readnextpage 串联以支持索引扫描。
SQLitebtreeInt.h#L190-L198所有表和索引都由磁盘页上的 B+ 树支撑。单元格式在 btreeInt.h 中定义:内部单元持有子页指针 + 键;叶单元存储完整数据。balance_nonroot() 在节点溢出时处理页分裂。

实现

typescript
class BPlusLeaf<K, V> {
  keys: K[] = [];
  values: V[] = [];
  next: BPlusLeaf<K, V> | null = null;
}

class BPlusInternal<K> {
  keys: K[] = [];
  children: (BPlusInternal<K> | BPlusLeaf<K, any>)[] = [];
}

type BPlusNode<K, V> = BPlusInternal<K> | BPlusLeaf<K, V>;

class BPlusTree<V> {
  private root: BPlusNode<number, V>;

  constructor(private order: number) {
    this.root = new BPlusLeaf<number, V>();
  }

  search(key: number): V | undefined {
    let node = this.root;
    while (node instanceof BPlusInternal) {
      let i = 0;
      while (i < node.keys.length && key >= node.keys[i]) i++;
      node = node.children[i];
    }
    const leaf = node as BPlusLeaf<number, V>;
    const idx = leaf.keys.indexOf(key);
    return idx >= 0 ? leaf.values[idx] : undefined;
  }

  insert(key: number, value: V): void {
    const result = this.insertNode(this.root, key, value);
    if (result) {
      const newRoot = new BPlusInternal<number>();
      newRoot.keys = [result.key];
      newRoot.children = [this.root, result.node];
      this.root = newRoot;
    }
  }

  rangeQuery(start: number, end: number): V[] {
    let node = this.root;
    while (node instanceof BPlusInternal) {
      let i = 0;
      while (i < node.keys.length && start >= node.keys[i]) i++;
      node = node.children[i];
    }
    const results: V[] = [];
    let leaf: BPlusLeaf<number, V> | null = node as BPlusLeaf<number, V>;
    while (leaf) {
      for (let i = 0; i < leaf.keys.length; i++) {
        if (leaf.keys[i] > end) return results;
        if (leaf.keys[i] >= start) results.push(leaf.values[i]);
      }
      leaf = leaf.next;
    }
    return results;
  }

  private insertNode(
    node: BPlusNode<number, V>,
    key: number,
    value: V,
  ): { key: number; node: BPlusNode<number, V> } | null {
    if (node instanceof BPlusLeaf) {
      let i = 0;
      while (i < node.keys.length && node.keys[i] < key) i++;
      if (i < node.keys.length && node.keys[i] === key) {
        node.values[i] = value;
        return null;
      }
      node.keys.splice(i, 0, key);
      node.values.splice(i, 0, value);
      if (node.keys.length >= this.order) {
        return this.splitLeaf(node);
      }
      return null;
    }
    const internal = node as BPlusInternal<number>;
    let i = 0;
    while (i < internal.keys.length && key >= internal.keys[i]) i++;
    const result = this.insertNode(internal.children[i], key, value);
    if (!result) return null;
    internal.keys.splice(i, 0, result.key);
    internal.children.splice(i + 1, 0, result.node);
    if (internal.keys.length >= this.order) {
      return this.splitInternal(internal);
    }
    return null;
  }

  private splitLeaf(leaf: BPlusLeaf<number, V>) {
    const mid = Math.ceil(leaf.keys.length / 2);
    const newLeaf = new BPlusLeaf<number, V>();
    newLeaf.keys = leaf.keys.splice(mid);
    newLeaf.values = leaf.values.splice(mid);
    newLeaf.next = leaf.next;
    leaf.next = newLeaf;
    return { key: newLeaf.keys[0], node: newLeaf as BPlusNode<number, V> };
  }

  private splitInternal(node: BPlusInternal<number>) {
    const mid = Math.floor(node.keys.length / 2);
    const promoteKey = node.keys[mid];
    const newNode = new BPlusInternal<number>();
    newNode.keys = node.keys.splice(mid + 1);
    newNode.children = node.children.splice(mid + 1);
    node.keys.pop();
    return { key: promoteKey, node: newNode as BPlusNode<number, any> };
  }
}
rust
pub struct BPlusTree {
    order: usize,
    root: BPlusNode,
}

enum BPlusNode {
    Leaf(LeafNode),
    Internal(InternalNode),
}

struct LeafNode {
    keys: Vec<i64>,
    values: Vec<String>,
}

struct InternalNode {
    keys: Vec<i64>,
    children: Vec<BPlusNode>,
}

impl BPlusTree {
    pub fn new(order: usize) -> Self {
        BPlusTree {
            order,
            root: BPlusNode::Leaf(LeafNode { keys: vec![], values: vec![] }),
        }
    }

    pub fn search(&self, key: i64) -> Option<&str> {
        let mut node = &self.root;
        loop {
            match node {
                BPlusNode::Internal(n) => {
                    let mut i = 0;
                    while i < n.keys.len() && key >= n.keys[i] { i += 1; }
                    node = &n.children[i];
                }
                BPlusNode::Leaf(leaf) => {
                    for (i, &k) in leaf.keys.iter().enumerate() {
                        if k == key { return Some(&leaf.values[i]); }
                    }
                    return None;
                }
            }
        }
    }

    pub fn insert(&mut self, key: i64, value: String) {
        let order = self.order;
        let root = std::mem::replace(
            &mut self.root,
            BPlusNode::Leaf(LeafNode { keys: vec![], values: vec![] }),
        );
        let (new_root, split) = Self::insert_node(root, key, value, order);
        if let Some((promote_key, right)) = split {
            let left = new_root;
            self.root = BPlusNode::Internal(InternalNode {
                keys: vec![promote_key],
                children: vec![left, right],
            });
        } else {
            self.root = new_root;
        }
    }

    fn insert_node(
        node: BPlusNode, key: i64, value: String, order: usize,
    ) -> (BPlusNode, Option<(i64, BPlusNode)>) {
        match node {
            BPlusNode::Leaf(mut leaf) => {
                let pos = leaf.keys.iter().position(|&k| k >= key);
                match pos {
                    Some(i) if leaf.keys[i] == key => {
                        leaf.values[i] = value;
                        (BPlusNode::Leaf(leaf), None)
                    }
                    Some(i) => {
                        leaf.keys.insert(i, key);
                        leaf.values.insert(i, value);
                        Self::maybe_split_leaf(leaf, order)
                    }
                    None => {
                        leaf.keys.push(key);
                        leaf.values.push(value);
                        Self::maybe_split_leaf(leaf, order)
                    }
                }
            }
            BPlusNode::Internal(mut internal) => {
                let mut i = 0;
                while i < internal.keys.len() && key >= internal.keys[i] { i += 1; }
                let child = internal.children.remove(i);
                let (new_child, split) = Self::insert_node(child, key, value, order);
                internal.children.insert(i, new_child);
                if let Some((promote_key, right)) = split {
                    internal.keys.insert(i, promote_key);
                    internal.children.insert(i + 1, right);
                    if internal.keys.len() >= order {
                        return Self::split_internal(internal);
                    }
                }
                (BPlusNode::Internal(internal), None)
            }
        }
    }

    fn maybe_split_leaf(
        mut leaf: LeafNode, order: usize,
    ) -> (BPlusNode, Option<(i64, BPlusNode)>) {
        if leaf.keys.len() < order {
            return (BPlusNode::Leaf(leaf), None);
        }
        let mid = leaf.keys.len() / 2;
        let new_leaf = LeafNode {
            keys: leaf.keys.split_off(mid),
            values: leaf.values.split_off(mid),
        };
        let promote = new_leaf.keys[0];
        (BPlusNode::Leaf(leaf), Some((promote, BPlusNode::Leaf(new_leaf))))
    }

    fn split_internal(
        mut node: InternalNode,
    ) -> (BPlusNode, Option<(i64, BPlusNode)>) {
        let mid = node.keys.len() / 2;
        let promote = node.keys[mid];
        let right_keys = node.keys.split_off(mid + 1);
        node.keys.pop();
        let right_children = node.children.split_off(mid + 1);
        let right = InternalNode { keys: right_keys, children: right_children };
        (BPlusNode::Internal(node), Some((promote, BPlusNode::Internal(right))))
    }
}
go
type BPlusTree struct {
	order int
	root  bpNode
}

type bpNode interface {
	isLeaf() bool
}

type bpLeaf struct {
	keys   []int
	values []string
	next   *bpLeaf
}

type bpInternal struct {
	keys     []int
	children []bpNode
}

func (l *bpLeaf) isLeaf() bool     { return true }
func (n *bpInternal) isLeaf() bool  { return false }

func NewBPlusTree(order int) *BPlusTree {
	return &BPlusTree{order: order, root: &bpLeaf{}}
}

func (t *BPlusTree) Search(key int) (string, bool) {
	node := t.root
	for !node.isLeaf() {
		internal := node.(*bpInternal)
		i := 0
		for i < len(internal.keys) && key >= internal.keys[i] {
			i++
		}
		node = internal.children[i]
	}
	leaf := node.(*bpLeaf)
	for i, k := range leaf.keys {
		if k == key {
			return leaf.values[i], true
		}
	}
	return "", false
}

func (t *BPlusTree) RangeQuery(start, end int) []string {
	node := t.root
	for !node.isLeaf() {
		internal := node.(*bpInternal)
		i := 0
		for i < len(internal.keys) && start >= internal.keys[i] {
			i++
		}
		node = internal.children[i]
	}
	var results []string
	leaf := node.(*bpLeaf)
	for leaf != nil {
		for i, k := range leaf.keys {
			if k > end {
				return results
			}
			if k >= start {
				results = append(results, leaf.values[i])
			}
		}
		leaf = leaf.next
	}
	return results
}
python
class BPlusLeaf:
    def __init__(self):
        self.keys: list[int] = []
        self.values: list[str] = []
        self.next: "BPlusLeaf | None" = None

class BPlusInternal:
    def __init__(self):
        self.keys: list[int] = []
        self.children: list = []

class BPlusTree:
    def __init__(self, order: int):
        self.order = order
        self.root: BPlusLeaf | BPlusInternal = BPlusLeaf()

    def search(self, key: int) -> str | None:
        node = self.root
        while isinstance(node, BPlusInternal):
            i = 0
            while i < len(node.keys) and key >= node.keys[i]:
                i += 1
            node = node.children[i]
        leaf: BPlusLeaf = node
        for i, k in enumerate(leaf.keys):
            if k == key:
                return leaf.values[i]
        return None

    def insert(self, key: int, value: str) -> None:
        result = self._insert(self.root, key, value)
        if result:
            new_root = BPlusInternal()
            new_root.keys = [result[0]]
            new_root.children = [self.root, result[1]]
            self.root = new_root

    def _insert(self, node, key, value):
        if isinstance(node, BPlusLeaf):
            i = 0
            while i < len(node.keys) and node.keys[i] < key:
                i += 1
            if i < len(node.keys) and node.keys[i] == key:
                node.values[i] = value
                return None
            node.keys.insert(i, key)
            node.values.insert(i, value)
            if len(node.keys) >= self.order:
                return self._split_leaf(node)
            return None

        internal: BPlusInternal = node
        i = 0
        while i < len(internal.keys) and key >= internal.keys[i]:
            i += 1
        result = self._insert(internal.children[i], key, value)
        if result is None:
            return None
        internal.keys.insert(i, result[0])
        internal.children.insert(i + 1, result[1])
        if len(internal.keys) >= self.order:
            return self._split_internal(internal)
        return None

    def _split_leaf(self, leaf: BPlusLeaf):
        mid = len(leaf.keys) // 2
        new_leaf = BPlusLeaf()
        new_leaf.keys = leaf.keys[mid:]
        new_leaf.values = leaf.values[mid:]
        leaf.keys = leaf.keys[:mid]
        leaf.values = leaf.values[:mid]
        new_leaf.next = leaf.next
        leaf.next = new_leaf
        return (new_leaf.keys[0], new_leaf)

    def _split_internal(self, node: BPlusInternal):
        mid = len(node.keys) // 2
        promote_key = node.keys[mid]
        new_node = BPlusInternal()
        new_node.keys = node.keys[mid + 1:]
        new_node.children = node.children[mid + 1:]
        node.keys = node.keys[:mid]
        node.children = node.children[:mid + 1]
        return (promote_key, new_node)

    def range_query(self, start: int, end: int) -> list[str]:
        node = self.root
        while isinstance(node, BPlusInternal):
            i = 0
            while i < len(node.keys) and start >= node.keys[i]:
                i += 1
            node = node.children[i]
        results: list[str] = []
        leaf: BPlusLeaf | None = node
        while leaf is not None:
            for i, k in enumerate(leaf.keys):
                if k > end:
                    return results
                if k >= start:
                    results.append(leaf.values[i])
            leaf = leaf.next
        return results

练习

难度练习文件
基础实现带插入和搜索的 B+ 树exercises/typescript/b-plus-tree/01-basic.test.ts
进阶添加基于叶节点链表的范围查询exercises/typescript/b-plus-tree/02-intermediate.test.ts

运行练习:pnpm test:exercises(TypeScript)· cargo test(Rust)· go test ./...(Go)· pytest(Python)

练习文件: Rust exercises/rust/src/b_plus_tree/mod.rs · Go exercises/go/b_plus_tree/b_plus_tree_test.go · Python exercises/python/b_plus_tree/test_b_plus_tree.py

何时使用

  • 数据库索引 — 所有关系数据库都用 B+ 树实现主键和二级索引
  • 文件系统 — NTFS、ext4、Btrfs 用 B+ 树存储目录条目和元数据
  • 需要范围查询 — 叶节点链表高效支持 WHERE x BETWEEN a AND b
  • 磁盘存储 — 高扇出最大限度减少磁盘寻址(十亿行只需 3-4 层)
  • 有序遍历 — 叶链表提供排序遍历,无需树遍历

何时不用

  • 仅内存且数据量小 — 哈希表或平衡 BST 更简单高效
  • 写多读少 — LSM 树(LevelDB、RocksDB)批量写入效率更高
  • 仅点查 — 哈希索引 O(1) 优于 O(log n),无需树的开销
  • 仅追加写 — 随机插入导致页分裂;日志结构存储可避免

更多生产案例

  • InnoDB (MySQL) — 聚簇索引就是 B+ 树;二级索引回指聚簇索引
  • MongoDB WiredTiger — WiredTiger 存储引擎用 B+ 树实现索引
  • LMDB — 写时复制 B+ 树,用于崩溃安全的内存映射存储
  • Btrfs — Linux 文件系统完全构建在 B-tree / B+ 树之上

相关模式

模式关系
跳表 (Skip List)更简单的概率性替代方案,具有相当的 O(log n) 性能
LSM 树 (Log-Structured Merge Tree)LSM 树缓冲写入以提高速度;B+ 树通过平衡结构优化读取
Merkle 树 (Merkle Tree)两者都是树结构——Merkle 用于完整性验证,B+ 用于有序存储
合并迭代器 (Merge Iterator / K-Way Merge)B+ 树范围扫描使用类似合并迭代器的迭代模式
最小堆 / 优先队列 (Min-Heap)两者都是基于树的结构——B+ 树优化范围查询,最小堆优化优先级提取

挑战题

Q1: 一棵阶为 100 的 B+ 树存储 10 亿个键。它有多少层深?点查询需要多少次磁盘读取?

答案: 最多 5 层。

每个内部节点最多持有 99 个键和 100 个子节点。第 0 层(根):1 个节点。第 1 层:100 个节点。第 2 层:10,000 个节点。第 3 层:1,000,000 个节点。第 4 层(叶子):100,000,000 个节点。

100^4 = 100 亿 > 10 亿,因此 5 层足够。点查询每层读取一个节点 = 5 次磁盘读取。实际中根节点和顶层内部节点通常缓存在 RAM 中,所以通常只需 2-3 次磁盘读取。

Q2: 为什么 B+ 树只在叶节点存储值,而 B 树在内部节点也存储值?

答案: 两个原因:

  1. 更高的扇出:不含值的内部节点更小,每个页面可以容纳更多键。每个节点的键越多 = 树越浅 = 磁盘读取越少。
  2. 更简单的范围扫描:所有值都在叶子层并通过链表连接。范围查询沿叶子链线性遍历即可。在 B 树中,你需要进行中序遍历并访问每一层。

权衡:在 B+ 树中精确匹配查找总是到达叶子层(永远不会在内部节点短路)。但基于磁盘的系统以扇出为优化目标,使 B+ 树成为数据库的通用选择。

Q3: PostgreSQL 使用 "B-link tree" 而非标准 B+ 树。右链接解决了什么问题?

答案: 无需全局锁的并发访问。

在标准 B+ 树中,分裂需要锁定父节点以插入新的子节点指针。这可能级联到根节点,形成瓶颈。Lehman 和 Yao 的 B-link tree 在每一层的兄弟节点之间添加了右链接指针。在节点分裂过程中到达该节点的读者可以沿右链接找到新的兄弟节点。写者只需锁定正在分裂的节点及其右邻居——分裂时不需要父节点锁。

这就是 PostgreSQL 能够在不锁定整棵树的情况下处理并发索引插入的原因。

Q4: 你的 B+ 树索引对 SELECT * FROM orders WHERE price BETWEEN 10 AND 50 工作良好,但 SELECT * FROM orders WHERE status = 'pending' AND region = 'US' 很慢,尽管已经在 (status, region) 上建了组合索引。出了什么问题?

答案: 查询可能没有使用组合索引的最左前缀,或者组合索引的列顺序与查询模式不匹配。

(status, region) 上的 B+ 树组合索引按 status 排序在先,在每个 status 内再按 region 排序。这个索引能高效处理 WHERE status = 'pending'WHERE status = 'pending' AND region = 'US'。但如果查询只过滤 region 而没有 status,B+ 树无法直接跳到正确的叶节点——必须扫描整个索引。这就是"最左前缀"规则:组合 B+ 树索引只对按列顺序前缀过滤的查询有效。如果需要对任意列组合进行多列过滤,考虑使用单独的索引或不同的索引策略。

基于 MIT 许可证发布。