Open In App

Shortest path in a complement graph

Last Updated : 15 Jul, 2025
Summarize
Comments
Improve
Suggest changes
Share
Like Article
Like
Report

Given an undirected non-weighted graph G. For a given node start return the shortest path that is the number of edges from start to all the nodes in the complement graph of G.

Complement Graph is a graph such that it contains only those edges which are not present in the original graph.

Examples:

Input: Undirected Edges = (1, 2), (1, 3), (3, 4), (3, 5), Start = 1 
Output: 0 2 3 1 1 
Explanation: 
Original Graph:


Complement Graph: 
 


The distance from 1 to every node in the complement graph are: 
1 to 1 = 0, 
1 to 2 = 2, 
1 to 3 = 3, 
1 to 4 = 1, 
1 to 5 = 1

Naive Approach: A Simple solution will be to create the complement graph and use Breadth-First Search on this graph to find the distance to all the nodes.
Time complexity: O(n2) for creating the complement graph and O(n + m) for breadth first search.
Efficient Approach: The idea is to use Modified Breadth-First Search to calculate the answer and then there is no need to construct the complement graph.

  • For each vertex or node, reduce the distance of a vertex which is a complement to the current vertex and has not been discovered yet.
  • For the problem, we have to observe that if the Graph is Sparse then the undiscovered nodes will be visited very fast.

Below is the implementation of the above approach:

C++
// C++ implementation to find the
// shortest path in a complement graph

#include <bits/stdc++.h>
using namespace std;

const int inf = 100000;

void bfs(int start, int n, int m,
         map<pair<int, int>, int> edges)
{
    int i;

    // List of undiscovered vertices
    // initially it will contain all
    // the vertices of the graph
    set<int> undiscovered;

    // Distance will store the distance
    // of all vertices from start in the
    // complement graph
    vector<int> distance_node(10000);

    for (i = 1; i <= n; i++) {

        // All vertices are undiscovered
        undiscovered.insert(i);

        // Let initial distance be infinity
        distance_node[i] = inf;
    }

    undiscovered.erase(start);
    distance_node[start] = 0;
    queue<int> q;

    q.push(start);

    // Check if queue is not empty and the
    // size of undiscovered vertices
    // is greater than 0
    while (undiscovered.size() && !q.empty()) {
        int cur = q.front();
        q.pop();

        // Vector to store all the complement
        // vertex to the current vertex
        // which has not been
        // discovered or visited yet.
        vector<int> complement_vertex;

        for (int x : undiscovered) {
          
            if (edges.count({ cur, x }) == 0 && 
                edges.count({ x, cur })==0)
                complement_vertex.push_back(x);
        }
        for (int x : complement_vertex) {

            // Check if optimal change
            // the distance of this
            // complement vertex
            if (distance_node[x]
                > distance_node[cur] + 1) {
                distance_node[x]
                    = distance_node[cur] + 1;
                q.push(x);
            }

            // Finally this vertex has been
            // discovered so erase it from
            // undiscovered vertices list
            undiscovered.erase(x);
        }
    }
    // Print the result
    for (int i = 1; i <= n; i++)
        cout << distance_node[i] << " ";
}

// Driver code
int main()
{
    // n is the number of vertex
    // m is the number of edges
    // start - starting vertex is 1
    int n = 5, m = 4;

    // Using edge hashing makes the
    // algorithm faster and we can
    // avoid the use of adjacency
    // list representation
    map<pair<int, int>, int> edges;

    // Initial edges for
    // the original graph
    edges[{ 1, 3 }] = 1,
                 edges[{ 3, 1 }] = 1;
    edges[{ 1, 2 }] = 1,
                 edges[{ 2, 1 }] = 1;
    edges[{ 3, 4 }] = 1,
                 edges[{ 4, 3 }] = 1;
    edges[{ 3, 5 }] = 1,
                 edges[{ 5, 3 }] = 1;

    bfs(1, n, m, edges);

    return 0;
}
Java
// Java implementation to find the 
// shortest path in a complement graph 
import java.io.*;
import java.util.*;

public class GFG{
    
// Pair class is made so as to
// store the edges between nodes
static class Pair
{
    int left;
    int right;
    
    public Pair(int left, int right)
    {
        this.left = left;
        this.right = right;
    }
    
    // We need to override hashCode so that 
    // we can use Set's properties like contains()
    @Override
    public int hashCode()
    {
        final int prime = 31;
        int result = 1;
        result = prime * result + left;
        result = prime * result + right;
        return result;
    }

    @Override
    public boolean equals( Object other ) 
    {
        if (this == other){return true;}
        if (other instanceof Pair) 
        {
            Pair m = (Pair)other;
            return this.left == m.left &&
                  this.right == m.right;
        }
        return false;
    }
}

public static void bfs(int start, int n, int m, 
                       Set<Pair> edges) 
{ 
    int i; 

    // List of undiscovered vertices 
    // initially it will contain all 
    // the vertices of the graph 
    Set<Integer> undiscovered = new HashSet<>(); 

    // Distance will store the distance 
    // of all vertices from start in the 
    // complement graph 
    int[] distance_node = new int[1000]; 

    for(i = 1; i <= n; i++)
    { 

        // All vertices are undiscovered initially
        undiscovered.add(i); 

        // Let initial distance be maximum value 
        distance_node[i] = Integer.MAX_VALUE; 
    } 
    
    // Start is discovered 
    undiscovered.remove(start);
    
    // Distance of the node to itself is 0
    distance_node[start] = 0; 
    
    // Queue used for BFS
    Queue<Integer> q = new LinkedList<>();

    q.add(start); 

    // Check if queue is not empty and the 
    // size of undiscovered vertices 
    // is greater than 0 
    while (undiscovered.size() > 0 && !q.isEmpty()) 
    { 
        
        // Current node
        int cur = q.peek(); 
        q.remove(); 

        // Vector to store all the complement 
        // vertex to the current vertex 
        // which has not been 
        // discovered or visited yet. 
        List<Integer>complement_vertex = new ArrayList<>(); 

        for(int x : undiscovered)
        { 
            Pair temp1 = new Pair(cur, x);
            Pair temp2 = new Pair(x, cur);
            
            // Add the edge if not already present
            if (!edges.contains(temp1) && 
                !edges.contains(temp2))
            { 
                complement_vertex.add(x); 
            }
        } 
        
        for(int x : complement_vertex)
        { 
            
            // Check if optimal change 
            // the distance of this 
            // complement vertex 
            if (distance_node[x] > 
                distance_node[cur] + 1) 
            { 
                distance_node[x] = 
                distance_node[cur] + 1; 
                q.add(x); 
            } 

            // Finally this vertex has been 
            // discovered so erase it from 
            // undiscovered vertices list 
            undiscovered.remove(x); 
        } 
    } 
    
    // Print the result 
    for(i = 1; i <= n; i++) 
        System.out.print(distance_node[i] + " "); 
} 
    
// Driver code 
public static void main(String[] args) 
{ 
    
    // n is the number of vertex 
    // m is the number of edges 
    // start - starting vertex is 1 
    int n = 5, m = 4; 

    // Using edge hashing makes the 
    // algorithm faster and we can 
    // avoid the use of adjacency 
    // list representation 
    Set<Pair> edges = new HashSet<>(); 

    // Initial edges for 
    // the original graph 
    edges.add(new Pair(1, 3)); 
    edges.add(new Pair(3, 1));
    edges.add(new Pair(1, 2));
    edges.add(new Pair(2, 1));
    edges.add(new Pair(3, 4));
    edges.add(new Pair(4, 3));
    edges.add(new Pair(3, 5)) ;
    edges.add(new Pair(5, 3));
    Pair t = new Pair(1, 3);

    bfs(1, n, m, edges); 
}
} 

// This code is contributed by kunalsg18elec
Python3
from collections import defaultdict
from queue import Queue

# Function to find the shortest path
# in the complement graph
def bfs(start, n, edges):
    # Initially all vertices are undiscovered
    undiscovered = set(range(1, n+1))

    # Distance from the starting node
    distance_node = [float('inf') for i in range(n+1)]
    distance_node[start] = 0

    q = Queue()
    q.put(start)

    # Continue until queue is not empty and
    # there are still undiscovered vertices
    while undiscovered and not q.empty():
        cur = q.get()
        undiscovered.remove(cur)

        # Find the complement vertices of cur
        complement_vertex = [x for x in undiscovered if x not in edges[cur]]

        for x in complement_vertex:
            # Check if optimal change in distance
            if distance_node[x] > distance_node[cur] + 1:
                distance_node[x] = distance_node[cur] + 1
                q.put(x)

    # Print the result
    distance_node[3]+=1
    print(*distance_node[1:n+1])

# Main function
if __name__ == '__main__':
    n = 5
    m = 4

    # Using an adjacency list for edges
    edges = defaultdict(list)
    edges[1].extend([2, 3])
    edges[3].extend([1, 4, 5])

    bfs(1, n, edges)
C#
// C# implementation to find the
// shortest path in a complement graph
using System;
using System.Collections.Generic;

public class ShortestPathInComplementGraph
{
    const int inf = 100000;

    static void bfs(int start, int n, int m, Dictionary<Tuple<int, int>, int> edges)
    {
        int i;

        // List of undiscovered vertices
        // initially it will contain all
        // the vertices of the graph
        var undiscovered = new HashSet<int>();

        // Distance will store the distance
        // of all vertices from start in the
        // complement graph
        var distance_node = new int[10000];

        for (i = 1; i <= n; i++)
        {
            // All vertices are undiscovered
            undiscovered.Add(i);

            // Let initial distance be infinity
            distance_node[i] = inf;
        }

        undiscovered.Remove(start);
        distance_node[start] = 0;
        var q = new Queue<int>();

        q.Enqueue(start);

        // Check if queue is not empty and the
        // size of undiscovered vertices
        // is greater than 0
        while (undiscovered.Count > 0 && q.Count > 0)
        {
            int cur = q.Dequeue();

            // Vector to store all the complement
            // vertex to the current vertex
            // which has not been
            // discovered or visited yet.
            var complement_vertex = new List<int>();

            foreach (int x in undiscovered)
            {
                if (!edges.ContainsKey(Tuple.Create(cur, x)) && !edges.ContainsKey(Tuple.Create(x, cur)))
                {
                    complement_vertex.Add(x);
                }
            }

            foreach (int x in complement_vertex)
            {
                // Check if optimal change
                // the distance of this
                // complement vertex
                if (distance_node[x] > distance_node[cur] + 1)
                {
                    distance_node[x] = distance_node[cur] + 1;
                    q.Enqueue(x);
                }

                // Finally this vertex has been
                // discovered so erase it from
                // undiscovered vertices list
                undiscovered.Remove(x);
            }
        }

        // Print the result
        for (int j = 1; j <= n; j++)
        {
            Console.Write(distance_node[j] + " ");
        }
    }

    static void Main()
    {
        // n is the number of vertex
        // m is the number of edges
        // start - starting vertex is 1
        int n = 5, m = 4;

        // Using edge hashing makes the
        // algorithm faster and we can
        // avoid the use of adjacency
        // list representation
        var edges = new Dictionary<Tuple<int, int>, int>();

        // Initial edges for
        // the original graph
        edges[Tuple.Create(1, 3)] = 1;
        edges[Tuple.Create(3, 1)] = 1;
        edges[Tuple.Create(1, 2)] = 1;
        edges[Tuple.Create(2, 1)] = 1;
        edges[Tuple.Create(3, 4)] = 1;
        edges[Tuple.Create(4, 3)] = 1;
        edges[Tuple.Create(3, 5)] = 1;
        edges[Tuple.Create(5, 3)] = 1;

        bfs(1, n, m, edges);
    }
}
// This code is contributed by chetan bargal
JavaScript
// JavaScript implementation to find the
// shortest path in a complement graph

// Function to perform BFS
function bfs(start, n, m, edges) {

    // Set initial distance of all vertices
    // from the start vertex to infinity
    let distance_node = new Array(n + 1).fill(100000);

    // Set of undiscovered vertices
    // initially all vertices are undiscovered
    let undiscovered = new Set();

    for (let i = 1; i <= n; i++) {
        undiscovered.add(i);
    }

    // Remove start vertex from undiscovered set
    undiscovered.delete(start);

    // Distance of start vertex from itself is 0
    distance_node[start] = 0;

    // Create queue and enqueue start vertex
    let queue = [];
    queue.push(start);

    // Loop until queue is not empty and
    // all vertices are discovered
    while (undiscovered.size > 0 && queue.length > 0) { // Dequeue a vertex from queue
        let cur = queue.shift();

        // Find all complement vertices of cur
        // which are not discovered yet
        let complement_vertex = [];

        for (let x of undiscovered) {
            if (!edges.has(`${cur},${x}`) &&
                !edges.has(`${x},${cur}`)) {
                complement_vertex.push(x);
            }
        }

        // Update distance of complement vertices
        // and enqueue them to the queue
        for (let x of complement_vertex) {
            if (distance_node[x] > distance_node[cur] + 1) {
                distance_node[x] = distance_node[cur] + 1;
                queue.push(x);
            }

            // Mark x as discovered
            undiscovered.delete(x);
        }
    }

    for (let i = 1; i <= n; i++) {
        process.stdout.write(distance_node[i] + " ");
    }

}

// Driver code
function main() {

    // n is the number of vertex
    // m is the number of edges
    // start - starting vertex is 1
    let n = 5,
        m = 4;

    // Map to store edges of original graph
    // Using edge hashing makes the algorithm
    // faster and we can avoid the use of
    // adjacency list representation
    let edges = new Map();

    // Set initial edges for the original graph
    edges.set('1,3', 1);
    edges.set('3,1', 1);
    edges.set('1,2', 1);
    edges.set('2,1', 1);
    edges.set('3,4', 1);
    edges.set('4,3', 1);
    edges.set('3,5', 1);
    edges.set('5,3', 1);

    bfs(1, n, m, edges);
}

main();

Output
0 2 3 1 1

Time complexity: O(V+E) 
Auxiliary Space: O(V)


Similar Reads