Graph Traversal

Depth First Search

B.Tech (CSE), Semester 5,

Analysis and Design of Algorithms
Objectives
This session will enable students to:

1. Understand the need and basics of graph traversal.

2. Traverse the graph using depth first search technique.

3. Differentiate between connected and strongly connected components.

Outcomes
After completing this session, students will be able to:

1. Apply depth first search technique for various applications areas.

2. Analyze the complexity of depth first search technique.

3. Find the strongly connected components in the graph.

 Graph Traversal

• Graph traversal refers to the process of visiting each vertex in a graph.

• Graph Traversal vs Graph Search

 "Traversal": visit every node in the graph.
 "Search": visit nodes until find what we are looking for. E.g.:
 A node labeled "New York".
 A node containing integer 2014

• Using graph traversal, we can:

 Find if there’s a connection from one node to another?

 Determine if we can start from our node and touch every other node?
 Find the shortest path between two nodes?
 Finding a Route
• Graph traversal refers to the process of visiting each vertex in a graph.

v
Find a sequence of vertices
0
v0, v1, …, vk such that

• v0 is source

• Each (vi,vi+1) is an edge

v
in E v
1
3
• vk is target

v v
2 4

v
 Graph Traversal: Depth First Search
• Start from i, visit a neighbour j

• Suspend the exploration of i and explore j instead

• Continue till you reach a vertex with no unexplored

neighbours

• Backtrack to nearest suspended vertex that still has an

unexplored neighbour

• Suspended vertices are stored in a stack

• Last in, first out: most recently suspended is checked

first
 Depth First Search
1
2
1 3
4
3 5
Visite
6
2 5 d
7
8
4
6 9
7 10
StackofSuspended Vertices
8 9

1
 Depth First Search
1
Start at 4 2
1 3
4
3 5
Visite
6
2 5 d
7
8
4
6 9
7 10
StackofSuspended Vertices
8 9

1
 Depth First Search
1
Start at 4 2
1 3
4 1
3 5
Visite
6
2 5 d
7
8
4
6 9
7 10
StackofSuspended Vertices
8 9

1
 Depth First Search
1 1
Start at 4 2
1 3
4 1
3 5
Visite
6
2 5 d
7
8
4
6 9
7 10
StackofSuspended Vertices
8 9
4
1
 Depth First Search
1 1
Start at 4 2 1
1 3
4 1
3 5
Visite
6
2 5 d
7
8
4
6 9
7 10
StackofSuspended Vertices
8 9
4 1
1
 Depth First Search
1 1
Start at 4 2 1
1 3 1
4 1
3 5
Visite
6
2 5 d
7
8
4
6 9
7 10
StackofSuspended Vertices
8 9
4 1 2
1
 Depth First Search
1 1
Start at 4 2 1
1 3 1
4 1
3 5
Visite
6
5 d
2 7
8
4 9
6 7 10

StackofSuspended Vertices
8 9
4 1
1
 Depth First Search
1 1
Start at 4 2 1
1 3 1
4 1
3 5
Visite
6
5 d
2 7
8
4 9
6 7 10

StackofSuspended Vertices
8 9
4
1
 Depth First Search
1 1
Start at 4 2 1
1 3 1
4 1
3 5
Visite
6
5 d
2 7
8
4
9
6 7 10
StackofSuspended Vertices
8 9

1
 Depth First Search
1 1
Start at 4 2 1
1 3 1
4 1
3 5 1
Visite
6
5 d
2 7
8
4 9
6 7 10

StackofSuspended Vertices
8 9
4
1
 Depth First Search
1 1
Start at 4 2 1
1 3 1
4 1
3 5 1
Visite
6 1
5 d
2 7
8
4 9
6 7 10

StackofSuspended Vertices
8 9
4 5
1
 Depth First Search
1 1
Start at 4 2 1
1 3 1
4 1
3 5 1
Visite
6 1
5 d
2 7 1
8
4 9
6 7 10

StackofSuspended Vertices
8 9
4 5 6
1
 Depth First Search
1 1
Start at 4 2 1
1 3 1
4 1
3 5 1
Visite
6 1
5 d
2 7 1
8
4 9
6 7 10

StackofSuspended Vertices
8 9
4 5
1
 Depth First Search
1 1
Start at 4 2 1
1 3 1
4 1
3 5 1
Visite
6 1
5 d
2 7 1
8 1
4 9
6 7 10

StackofSuspended Vertices
8 9
4 5 6
1
 Depth First Search
1 1
Start at 4 2 1
1 3 1
4 1
3 5 1
Visite
6 1
5 d
2 7 1
8 1
4 9 1
6 7 10

StackofSuspended Vertices
8 9
4 5 6 8
1
 Depth First Search
1 1
Start at 4 2 1
1 3 1
4 1
3 5 1
Visite
6 1
2 5 d
7 1
4
8 1
6 9 1
7 10 1
StackofSuspended Vertices
8 9
4 5 6 8 9
1
 Depth First Search
1 1
Start at 4 2 1
1 3 1
4 1
3 5 1
Visite
6 1
2 5 d
7 1
4
8 1
6 9 1
7 10 1
StackofSuspended Vertices
8 9
4 5 6 8
1
 Depth First Search
1 1
Start at 4 2 1
1 3 1
4 1
3 5 1
Visite
6 1
2 5 d
7 1
4
8 1
6 9 1
7 10 1
StackofSuspended Vertices
8 9
4 5 6
1
 Depth First Search
1 1
Start at 4 2 1
1 3 1
4 1
3 5 1
Visite
6 1
5 d
2 7 1
8 1
4 9 1
6 7 10 1
StackofSuspended Vertices
8 9
4 5
1
 Depth First Search
1 1
Start at 4 2 1
1 3 1
4 1
3 5 1
Visite
6 1
5 d
2 7 1
8 1
4 9 1
6 7 10 1
StackofSuspended Vertices
8 9
4
1
 Depth First Search
1 1
Start at 4 2 1
1 3 1
4 1
3 5 1
Visite
6 1
2 5 d
7 1
4
8 1
6 9 1
7 10 1
StackofSuspended Vertices
8 9

1
 Depth First Search
//Initialization
for j = 1..n {visited[j] = 0; parent [j] =-1}

function DFS(i) // DFS starting from vertex i

//Mark I as visited
visited[i] = 1;

//Explore each neighbor of I recursively

For each (i,j) in E
if visited[j] == 0
parent[j] = I
DFS(j)
 Complexity of Depth First Search

• Each vertex marked and explored exactly once

• DFS(j) need to examine all neighbours of j
• In adjacency matrix, scan row j: n entries
• Overall O(n2)
• With adjacency list, scanning takes O(m) time across
all vertices
• Total time is O(m+n), like BFS
 Depth First Search: Another Example

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yet
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all the paths out.

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re d !
explo
 Depth First Search
DFS finds all the nodes reachable from the starting point

In an undirected graph, this is called

a connected component.

start

One application: finding

connected components.
 Depth First Search
Why is it called depth-first?
• We are implicitly building a tree:

D E A

F
A B E

C
B

Call this the

G “DFS tree” G
C
• And first we go as deep as we can.
F D
 Depth First Search: Applications
• DFS has many applications:

• For undirected graphs:

 Connected components
 Connectivity properties

• For directed graphs:

 Finding cycles
 Topological sorting
 Connectivity properties: Strongly connected components
 Strong Connectivity
Def. Nodes u and v are mutually reachable if there is both a path from u to v
and also a path from v to u.

Def. A graph is strongly connected if every pair of nodes is mutually reachable.

Lemma. Let s be any node. G is strongly connected iff every node is reachable
from s, and s is reachable from every node.

Pf.  Follows from definition.

Pf.  Path from u to v: concatenate u↝s path with s↝v path.
Path from v to u: concatenate v↝s path with s↝u path.

ok if paths overlap
s u

v
 Strong Connectivity
Theorem. Can determine if G is strongly connected in O(m + n) time. Pf.
・ Pick any node s.

reverse orientation of every edge in G

・
・ Run
Run BFS
BFS from
from ss in
in G.
G reverse.
・ Return true if all nodes reached in both BFS executions.

s tro ng ly c o n n e c t e d n o t st ro ng ly c o n ne c t e d
 Strong Components

Def. A strong component is a maximal subset of mutually reachable nodes.

 Strongly Connected Components
• A strongly connected component of a directed graph
G=(V,E) is a maximal set of vertices C such that for every
pair of vertices u and v in C, both vertices u and v are
reachable from each other.

Example
 Strongly Connected Components

cd
abe
h
fg

The Component Graph results by collapsing each

strong component into a single vertex.

The Component Graph is a DAG (directed acyclic graph)

 Connected vs Strongly
Connected Components

v and w are connected if there v and w are strongly connected if there

is a path between v and w is both a directed path from v to w and
a directed path from w to v
 Strongly Connected Components:
Applications
Food web graph. Vertex = species; edge = from producer to consumer.

Strong component. Subset of species with common energy flow.

 Strongly Connected Components:
Applications
Software module dependency graph.
・ Vertex = software module. ・ Edge: from module to dependency.

Strong component. Subset of mutually interacting modules.

Approach 1. Package strong components together.
Approach 2. Use to improve design!
 Summary

• Graph Traversal- Need and Basics

• Depth First Search Algorithm
• Complexity Analysis of Depth First Search Algorithm
• Depth First Search Algorithm: Applications
• Strongly Connected Components