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APPLICATIONS OF BFS
AND DFS
CSE 2011
Winter 2013

Some Applications of BFS and DFS

BFS
To find the shortest path from a vertex s to a vertex v in
an unweighted graph
To find the length of such a path
To find out if a graph contains cycles
To construct a BSF tree/forest from a graph
DFS
To find a path from a vertex s to a vertex v.
To find the length of such a path.
To construct a DSF tree/forest from a graph.

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TESTING FOR CYCLES

Finding Cycles in Undirected Graphs

To detect/find cycles in an undirected graph, we need to
classify the edges into 3 categories during program
execution:
unvisited edge: never visited.
discovery edge: visited for the very first time.
cross edge: edge that forms a cycle.
Code fragment 13.10, p. 623.
When the BFS algorithm terminates, the discovery edges
form a spanning tree.
If there exists a cross edge, the undirected graph contains
a cycle.

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 BFS Algorithm (in textbook)
The algorithm uses a mechanism for Algorithm BFS(G, s)
setting and getting labels of L0 new empty sequence
vertices and edges L0.insertLast(s)
setLabel(s, VISITED)
i0
Algorithm BFS(G) while Li.isEmpty()
Input graph G Li +1 new empty sequence
Output labeling of the edges for all v Li.elements()
and partition of the for all e G.incidentEdges(v)
vertices of G if getLabel(e) = UNEXPLORED
for all u G.vertices() w opposite(v,e)
setLabel(u, UNEXPLORED) if getLabel(w) = UNEXPLORED
for all e G.edges() setLabel(e, DISCOVERY)
setLabel(w, VISITED)
setLabel(e, UNEXPLORED)
Li +1.insertLast(w)
for all v G.vertices() else
if getLabel(v) = UNEXPLORED setLabel(e, CROSS)
BFS(G, v) i i +1
5 Breadth-First Search

Example
L0
unexplored vertex A
A
A visited vertex L1
B C D
unexplored edge
discovery edge E F
cross edge

L0 L0
A A

L1 L1
B C D B C D

E F E F

6 Breadth-First Search

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 Example (2)
L0 L0
A A

L1 L1
B C D B C D

L2
E F E F

L0 L0
A A

L1 L1
B C D B C D

L2 L2
E F E F
7 Breadth-First Search

Example (3)
L0 L0
A A

L1 L1
B C D B C D

L2 L2
E F E F

L0
A

L1
B C D

L2
E F
8 Breadth-First Search

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COMPUTING
SPANNING TREES

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Trees
Tree: a connected graph without cycles.
Given a connected graph, remove the cycles a tree.
The paths found by BFS(s) form a rooted tree (called a spanning
tree), with the starting vertex as the root of the tree.

BFS tree for vertex s = 2

What would a level-order traversal of the tree tell you?

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Computing a BFS Tree

Use BFS on a vertex
BFS( v ) with array
prev[ ]

The paths from source

s to the other vertices
form a tree

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COMPUTING
SPANNING FORESTS

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Computing a BFS Forest

A forest is a set of trees.
A connected graph gives a tree (which is itself a
forest).
A connected component also gives us a tree.
A graph with k components gives a forest of k
trees.

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Example
A graph with 3 components
P
Q
N
L R
O
M D s
E

C
A
F
B
K
G

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Example of a Forest
We removed the cycles
from the previous graph.
P
Q
N
L R
O
M D s
E

C A forest with 3 trees

A
F
B
K
G

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Computing a BFS Forest

Use BFS method on a graph BFSearch( G ),
which calls BFS( v )

Use BFS( v ) with array prev[ ].

The paths originating from v form a tree.

BFSearch( G ) examines all the components to

compute all the trees in the forest.

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Applications of DFS
Is there a path from source s to a vertex v?
Is an undirected graph connected?
Is a directed graph strongly connected?
To output the contents (e.g., the vertices) of a graph
To find the connected components of a graph
To find out if a graph contains cycles and report cycles.
To construct a DSF tree/forest from a graph

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Finding Cycles Using DFS

Similar to using BFS.

For undirected graphs, classify the edges into 3

categories during program execution: unvisited
edge, discovery edge, and back (cross) edge.
Code Fragment 13.1, p. 613.
If there exists a back edge, the undirected graph
contains a cycle.

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 DFS Algorithm
q The algorithm uses a mechanism
for setting and getting labels Algorithm DFS(G, v)
of vertices and edges Input graph G and a start vertex v of G
Algorithm DFS(G) Output labeling of the edges of G
Input graph G in the connected component of v
as discovery edges and back edges
Output labeling of the edges of G
as discovery edges and setLabel(v, VISITED)
back edges for all e G.incidentEdges(v)
for all u G.vertices() if getLabel(e) = UNEXPLORED
setLabel(u, UNEXPLORED) w opposite(v,e)
for all e G.edges() if getLabel(w) = UNEXPLORED
setLabel(e, UNEXPLORED) setLabel(e, DISCOVERY)
for all v G.vertices() DFS(G, w)
if getLabel(v) = UNEXPLORED else
DFS(G, v) setLabel(e, BACK)

2010 Goodrich, Tamassia Depth-First Search 19

Example
A
A unexplored vertex
A visited vertex
B D E
unexplored edge
discovery edge C
back edge

A A

B D E B D E

C C

2010 Goodrich, Tamassia Depth-First Search 20

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 Example (cont.)
A A

B D E B D E

C C

A A

B D E B D E

C C

2010 Goodrich, Tamassia Depth-First Search 21

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DFS Tree
Resulting DFS-tree.
Notice it is much deeper
than the BFS tree.

Captures the structure of the

recursive calls:
- when we visit a neighbor w of v,
we add w as child of v
- whenever DFS returns from a
vertex v, we climb up in the tree
from v to its parent

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Applications DFS vs. BFS

What can BFS do and DFS cant?
Finding shortest paths (in unweighted graphs)

What can DFS do and BFS cant?

Finding out if a connected undirected graph is biconnected
A connected undirected graph is biconnected if there are no vertices
whose removal disconnects the rest of the graph.
Application in computer networks: ensuring that a network is still
connected when a router/link fails.

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A graph that is not biconnected

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DFS vs. BFS

Applications DFS BFS
Spanning forest, connected

components, paths, cycles
Shortest paths

Biconnected components

L0
A A

L1
B C D B C D

L2
E F E F

DFS BFS

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Next lecture
Review

Final Exam
Wednesday, April 17, 9:00-12:00

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