Editing B-tree (section)

{{Short description|A self-balancing, tree-based data structure, that allows read/write access in logarithmic time}}
{{Distinguish|Binary tree|B+ tree}}
{{Infobox data structure
| name = B-tree
| type = [[Tree (data structure)]]
| invented_by = [[Rudolf Bayer]], [[Edward M. McCreight]]
| invented_year = 1970<ref name="bayer-mccreight-1970">{{Cite conference|last1=Bayer|first1=R.|last2=McCreight|first2=E.|book-title=Proceedings of the 1970 ACM SIGFIDET (Now SIGMOD) Workshop on Data Description, Access and Control - SIGFIDET '70|date=July 1970|title=Organization and maintenance of large ordered indices|page=107|url=https://infolab.usc.edu/csci585/Spring2010/den_ar/indexing.pdf|publisher=Boeing Scientific Research Laboratories|doi=10.1145/1734663.1734671|s2cid=26930249}}</ref>
| space_avg = O(''n'')
| space_worst = O(''n'')
| search_avg = O(log ''n'')
| search_worst = O(log ''n'')
| insert_avg = O(log ''n'')
| insert_worst = O(log ''n'')
| delete_avg = O(log ''n'')
| delete_worst = O(log ''n'')
}}

In [[computer science]], a '''B-tree''' is a self-balancing [[tree data structure]] that maintains sorted data and allows searches, sequential access, insertions, and deletions in [[logarithmic time]]. The B-tree generalizes the [[binary search tree]], allowing for [[Node (computer science)|nodes]] with more than two children.{{sfn|Comer|1979}} Unlike other [[self-balancing binary search tree]]s, the B-tree is well suited for storage systems that read and write relatively large [[Block (data storage)|blocks of data]], such as [[database]]s and [[file system]]s.