Tutorial on CPLEX

Linear Programming
Combinatorial Problem Solving (CPS)

Enric Rodrı́guez-Carbonell

June 6, 2019
LP with CPLEX
■ Among other things, CPLEX allows one to deal with:

◆ Real linear progs ◆ Mixed integer linear progs

(all vars are in R) (some vars are in Z)

min cT x min cT x
A1 x ≤ b1 A1 x ≤ b1
A2 x = b2 A2 x = b2
A3 x ≥ b3 A3 x ≥ b3
x ∈ Rn ∀i ∈ I : xi ∈ Z
∀i 6∈ I : xi ∈ R

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CPLEX Toolkit
■ CPLEX allows one to work in several ways. CPLEX is...

◆ An IDE that uses the OPL modeling language

◆ An interactive optimizer that reads MPS/LP input
◆ A callable library in several languages

■ Java
■ C
■ C++ (Concert Technology)
■ ...

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Concert Technology
■ Two kinds of objects:

◆ Modeling objects for defining the optimization problem

(constraints, objective function, etc.)
They are grouped into an IloModel object representing the complete
optimization problem (recall: here, model = problem).

◆ Solving objects for solving problems represented by modeling objects.

An IloCplex object reads a model, extracts its data, solves the
problem and answers queries on solution.

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Creating the Environment: IloEnv
■ The class IloEnv constructs a CPLEX environment.
■ The environment is the first object created in an application.
■ To create an environment named env, you do this:
IloEnv env ;

■ The environment object needs to be available to the constructor of all

other Concert Technology classes
■ IloEnv is a handle class: variable env is a pointer to an implementation
object, which is created at the same time
■ Before terminating destroy the implementation object with
env . end ();

for just ONE of its IloEnv handles

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Creating a Model: IloModel
■ After creating the environment, a Concert application is ready to create
one or more optimization models.
■ Objects of class IloModel define a complete model that can be later
passed to an IloCplex object.
■ To construct a modeling object named model, within an existing
environment named env, call:
IloModel model ( env );

■ The environment of a given optimization model can be recovered by

calling:
IloEnv env = model . getEnv ();

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Creating a Model: IloModel
■ After an IloModel object has been constructed, it can be populated with
objects of classes:

◆ IloNumVar, representing modeling variables;

◆ IloRange, which define constraints of the form l ≤ E ≤ u,
where E is a linear expression;
◆ IloObjective, representing an objective function.

■ Any object obj can be added to the model by calling:

model . add ( obj );

■ No need to explicitly add the variable objects to a model, as they are

implicitly added when they are used in range constraints (instances of
IloRange) or in the objective.
■ At most one objective can be used in a model.

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Creating a Model: IloModel
■ Modeling variables are constructed as objects of class IloNumVar, e.g.:
IloNumVar x ( env , 0 , 40 , ILOFLOAT );

This definition creates the modeling variable x with lower bound 0,

upper bound 40 and type ILOFLOAT
■ Variable types:

◆ ILOFLOAT: continuous variable

◆ ILOINT: integer variable
◆ ILOBOOL: Boolean variable

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Creating a Model: IloModel
■ After all the modeling variables have been constructed,
they can be used to build expressions,
which are used to define objects of classes IloObjective, IloRange.
■ To create obj of type IloObjective representing an objective function
(and direction of optimization):
IloObjective obj = IloMinimize ( env , x +2* y );

■ Creating constraints and adding them to the model:

model . add ( - x + 2* y + z <= 20);

-x + 2*y + z <= 20 creates implicitly an object of class IloRange that

is immediately added to the model
■ One may have arrays of these objects: IloNumVarArray, IloRangeArray

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Creating a Model: IloModel
■ Actually in
model . add ( - x + 2* y + z <= 20);

an object of class IloExpr is also implicitly created.

■ Objects of class IloExpr can be created explicitly too.
E.g., when expressions cannot be spelled out in source code but have to be
built up dynamically. Operators like += provide an efficient way to do this.
■ IloExpr objects are handles.
So the method end() must be called when the object is no longer needed.
The only exception to this rule are implicit expressions,
where user does not create an IloExpr object explicitly (see the example).

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Solving the Model: IloCplex
■ The class IloCplex solves a model.
■ After the optimization problem has been stored in an IloModel object
(say, model), it is time to create an IloCplex object (say, cplex) for
solving the problem:
IloCplex cplex ( model );

■ To solve the model, call:

cplex . solve ();

■ This method returns an IloBool value, where:

◆ IloTrue indicates that CPLEX successfully found a feasible (yet not

necessarily optimal) solution
◆ IloFalse indicates that no solution was found

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Solving the Model: IloCplex
■ More precise information about the outcome of the last call to the
method solve can be obtained by calling:
cplex . getStatus ();

■ Returned value tells what CPLEX found out: whether

◆ it found the optimal solution or only a feasible one; or

◆ it proved the model to be unbounded or infeasible; or
◆ nothing at all has been proved at this point.

■ More info is available with method getCplexStatus.

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Querying Results
■ Query methods access information about the solution.
■ Numbers in solution, etc. are of type IloNum (= double)

■ To query the solution value for a variable:

IloNum v = cplex . getValue ( x );

■ Warning! Sometimes for integer variables the value is not integer

but just “almost” integer (e.g. 1e-9 instead of 0).
Explicit rounding necessary
(use functions round of <math.h> or IloRound).

■ To query the solution value for an array of variables:

IloNumVarArray x ( env );
...
IloNumArray v ( env );
cplex . getValues (v , x );

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Querying Results
■ To get the values of the slacks of an array of constraints:
IloRangeArray c ( env );
...
IloNumArray v ( env );
cplex . getSlacks (v , c );

■ To get the values of the duals of an array of constraints:

IloRangeArray c ( env );
...
IloNumArray v ( env );
cplex . getDuals (v , c );

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Querying Results
■ To get values of reduced costs of an array of variables:
IloNumVarArray x ( env );
...
IloNumArray v ( env );
cplex . getReducedCosts (v , x );

■ To avoid logging messages by CPLEX on screen:

cplex . setOut ( env . getNullStream ());

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Querying Results
■ Output operator << is defined for type IloAlgorithm::Status returned
by getStatus, as well as for IloNum, IloNumVar, ...
<< is also defined for any array of elements
if the output operator is defined for the elements.
■ Default names are of the form IloNumVar(n)[ℓ..u] for variables, and
similarly for constraints, e.g.,
IloNumVar (1)[0..9] + IloNumVar (3)[0.. inf ] <= 20

■ One can set names to variables and constraints:

x . setName ( " x " );
c . setName ( " c " );

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Writing/Reading Models
■ CPLEX supports reading models from files and
writing models to files in several languages (e.g., LP format, MPS format)
■ To write the model to a file (say, model.lp):
cplex . exportModel ( " model . lp " );

■ IloCplex decides which file format to write based on the extension of the
file name (e.g., .lp is for LP format)
■ This may be useful, for example, for debugging

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Languages for Linear Programs
■ MPS
◆ Very old format (≈ age of punched cards!) by IBM
◆ Has become industry standard over the years
◆ Column-oriented
◆ Not really human-readable nor comfortable for writing
◆ All LP solvers support this language
■ LP
◆ CPLEX specific file format
◆ Row-oriented
◆ Very readable, close to mathematical formulation
◆ Supported by CPLEX, GUROBI, GLPK, LP SOLVE, ..
(which can translate from one format to the other!)

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Example: Product Mix Problem
■ A company can produce 6 different products P1 , . . . , P6
■ Production requires labour, energy and machines, which are all limited
■ The company wants to maximize revenue
■ The next table describes the requirements of producing one unit of each
product, the corresponding revenue and the availability of resources:

P1 P2 P3 P4 P5 P6 Limit
Revenue 5 6 7 5 6 7
Machine 2 3 2 1 1 3 1050
Labour 2 1 3 1 3 2 1050
Energy 1 2 1 4 1 2 1080

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Example: Product Mix Problem
MODEL:
xi = quantity of product Pi to be produced.

max Revenue : 5x1 +6x2 +7x3 +5x4 +6x5 +7x6

Machine : 2x1 +3x2 +2x3 +x4 +x5 +3x6 ≤ 1050
Labour : 2x1 +x2 +3x3 +x4 +3x5 +2x6 ≤ 1050
Energy : 1x1 +2x2 +x3 +4x4 +x5 +2x6 ≤ 1080
x1 , x2 , x3 , x4 , x5 , x6 ≥0

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LP Format
\ Product-mix problem (LP format)

max
revenue: 5 x_1 + 6 x_2 + 7 x_3 + 5 x_4 + 6 x_5 + 7 x_6

subject to

machine: 2 x_1 + 3 x_2 + 2 x_3 + x_4 + x_5 + 3 x_6 <= 1050

labour: 2 x_1 + x_2 + 3 x_3 + x_4 + 3 x_5 + 2 x_6 <= 1050
energy: 1 x_1 + 2 x_2 + x_3 + 4 x_4 + x_5 + 2 x_6 <= 1080

end

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MPS Format
* Product-mix problem (Fixed MPS format)
*
* Column indices
*00000000111111111122222222223333333333444444444455555555556666666666
*23456789012345678901234567890123456789012345678901234567890123456789
*
* mrevenue stands for -revenue
*
NAME PRODMIX
ROWS
N mrevenue
L machine
L labour
L energy
COLUMNS
x_1 mrevenue -5 machine 2
x_1 labour 2 energy 1
x_2 mrevenue -6 machine 3
x_2 labour 1 energy 2
x_3 mrevenue -7 machine 2
x_3 labour 3 energy 1
x_4 mrevenue -5 machine 1
x_4 labour 1 energy 4
x_5 mrevenue -6 machine 1
x_5 labour 3 energy 1
x_6 mrevenue -7 machine 3
x_6 labour 2 energy 2
RHS
RHS1 machine 1050 labour 1050
RHS1 energy 1080
ENDATA

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LP Format
■ Intended for representing LP’s of the form

min / max cT x
aTi x ⊲⊳i bi (1 ≤ i ≤ m, ⊲⊳i ∈ {≤, =, ≥})
ℓ≤x≤u (−∞ ≤ ℓk , uk ≤ +∞)

■ Comments: anything from a backslash \ to end of line

■ In general blank spaces are ignored
(except for separating keywords)
■ Names are sequences of alphanumeric chars and symbols ( , ) _ etc.
Careful with e, E: troubles with exponential notation!

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LP Format
1. Objective function section

(a) One of the keywords: min, max

(b) Label with colon: e.g. cost: (optional)
(c) Expression: e.g. -2 x1 + 2 x2

2. Constraints section
(a) Keyword subject to (or equivalently: s.t., st, such that)
(b) List of constraints, each in a different line

i. Label with colon: e.g. limit: (optional)

ii. Expression: e.g. 3 x1 + 2 x2 <= 4
Senses: <=, =< for ≤; >=, => for ≥; = for =

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LP Format
3. Bounds section (optional)
(a) Keyword Bounds
(b) List of bounds, each in a different line
l <= x <= u: sets lower and upper bounds
l <= x : sets lower bound
x >= l : sets lower bound
x <= u : sets upper bound
x = f: sets a fixed value
x free : specifies a free variable

(c) Infinite bounds −∞, +∞ are represented -inf, +inf

(d) Default bounds: lower bound 0, upper bound +∞
4. Generals section: Keyword Generals + list of integer variables (optional)
5. Binary section: Keyword Binary + list of binary variables (optional)
6. End section: File should end with keyword End
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Writing/Reading Models
■ IloCplex supports reading files with importModel
A call to importModel causes CPLEX to read a problem from a file and
add all data in it as new objects.
void IloCplex :: importModel (
IloModel & m,
const char * filename ,
IloObjective & obj ,
IloNumVarArray vars ,
IloRangeArray rngs ) const ;

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Example 1
■ Let us see a program for solving:

max x0 + 2x1 + 3x2

−x0 + x1 + x2 ≤ 20
x0 − 3x1 + x2 ≤ 30
0 ≤ x0 ≤ 40
0 ≤ x1 ≤ ∞
0 ≤ x2 ≤ ∞
xi ∈ R

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Example 1
# include < ilcplex / ilocplex .h >
ILOSTLBEGIN
int main () {
IloEnv env ;
IloModel model ( env );
IloNumVarArray x ( env );
x . add ( IloNumVar ( env , 0 , 40));
x . add ( IloNumVar ( env )); // default : between 0 and +∞
x . add ( IloNumVar ( env ));
model . add ( - x [0] + x [1] + x [2] <= 20);
model . add ( x [0] - 3 * x [1] + x [2] <= 30);
model . add ( IloMaximize ( env , x [0]+2* x [1]+3* x [2]));
IloCplex cplex ( model );
cplex . solve ();
cout << " Max = " << cplex . getObjValue () << endl ;
env . end ();
}

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Example 2
■ Let us see a program for solving:

max x0 + 2x1 + 3x2 + x3

−x0 + x1 + x2 + 10x3 ≤ 20
x0 − 3x1 + x2 ≤ 30
x1 − 3.5x3 = 0
0 ≤ x0 ≤ 40
0 ≤ x1 ≤ ∞
0 ≤ x2 ≤ ∞
2 ≤ x3 ≤ 3
x0 , x1 , x2 ∈ R
x3 ∈ Z

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Example 2
# include < ilcplex / ilocplex .h >
ILOSTLBEGIN
int main () {
IloEnv env ;
IloModel model ( env );
IloNumVarArray x ( env );
x . add ( IloNumVar ( env , 0 , 40));
x . add ( IloNumVar ( env ));
x . add ( IloNumVar ( env ));
x . add ( IloNumVar ( env , 2 , 3 , ILOINT ));
model . add ( - x [0] + x [1] + x [2] + 10 * x [3] <= 20);
model . add ( x [0] - 3 * x [1] + x [2] <= 30);
model . add ( x [1] - 3.5* x [3] == 0);
model . add ( IloMaximize ( env , x [0]+2* x [1]+3* x [2]+ x [3]));
IloCplex cplex ( model ); cplex . solve ();
cout << " Max = " << cplex . getObjValue () << endl ;
env . end ();
}

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More information

■ You can find collection of examples in lab’s machines at:

/opt/ibm/ILOG/CPLEX_Studio124/cplex/examples/src/cpp
/opt/ibm/ILOG/CPLEX_Studio124/cplex/examples/data

■ You can find a template for Makefile and the examples shown here at:
www.cs.upc.edu/~ erodri/webpage/cps/lab/lp/tutorial-cplex-code/tutorial-cplex-code.tgz

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