Breadth First Search

Graph Traversal means visiting each node exactly once. There are two methods of traversing the graph-

  • Breadth First Search (BFS)
  • Depth First Search (DFS)

Breadth First Search

The Breadth First Search is an algorithm for a graph or a tree traversal. It begins at the root node and explores all the neighbouring nodes in breadth(full-graph width) before going in deeper. A queue and a graph or a tree are used as a data structure in a breadth first algorithm.

In this, the traversal of elements of a graph or tree goes through level-by-level(left to right). It makes sure that every node is visited at least once. In each iteration, a vertex is removed from the queue and the adjacent vertices which are not visited are added in a queue. This algorithm terminates when the queue becomes empty.

The BFS is basically used to solve problems like - mapping routes, analyzing networks, puzzle game, scheduling, web crawlers etc.

The BFS is less space efficient than depth-first-search.





Algorithm for breath-first-search

These are the steps for the Breadth-First-Search algorithm -

  • Initially, take an empty queue, pick a node and enqueue all its adjacent nodes into a queue.
  • Dequeue(removed) a node from the queue, marked it as visited and enqueue all its neighbour nodes into a queue.
  • Repeat the above process till the queue becomes empty.


Step 1: SET STATUS = 1 (ready state)
for each node in G
Step 2: Enqueue the starting node A to queue and mark it visisted 
and set its STATUS = 2
(waiting state)
Step 3: Repeat Steps 4 and 5 until
QUEUE is empty
Step 4: Dequeue a node N. Process it
and set its STATUS = 3
(processed state).
Step 5: Enqueue all the adjacents of
N that are in the ready state and mark them visisted
(whose STATUS = 1) and set
their STATUS = 2
(waiting state)
[END OF LOOP]
Step 6: EXIT


Complexity of Breadth First Search

Time Complexity of BFS in Tree Traversal

If V is the number of nodes in a tree, the time complexity to be traversed is O(V).

Time Complexity of BFS in Graph Traversal

If V is the number of vertexes and E is the number of edges in a graph, the time complexity to be traversed is O(V + E).





Example of Breadth First Search

breadth first search
BFS : 0 2 3 4 7 1 6 5


Bredth First Search Program in C

#include<stdio.h>
#include<stdlib.h>
 
#define MAX 100  
 
#define initial 1
#define waiting 2
#define visited 3
 
int n;    
int adj[MAX][MAX];
int state[MAX]; 
void generate_graph();
void bfs_traversal();
void BFS(int v);
 
int queue[MAX], front = -1,rear = -1;
void enqueue(int vertex);
int dequeue();
int check_emptyqueue();
 
int main()
{
	generate_graph();
	bfs_traversal();
	return 0;
}
 
void bfs_traversal()
{
	int v;
	
	for(v=0; v rear)
		return 1;
	else
		return 0;
}
 
int dequeue()
{
	int delete_item;
	if(front == -1 || front > rear)
	{
		printf("Queue Underflow\n");
		exit(1);
	}
	
	delete_item = queue[front];
	front = front+1;
	return delete_item;
}
 
void generate_graph()
{
	int count,max_edge,origin,destin;
 
	printf("Enter number of vertices : ");
	scanf("%d",&n);
	max_edge = n*(n-1);
 
	for(count=1; count<=max_edge; count++)
	{
		printf("Enter edge %d( -1 -1 to quit ) : ",count);
		scanf("%d %d",&origin,&destin);
 
		if((origin == -1) && (destin == -1))
			break;
 
		if(origin>=n || destin>=n || origin<0 || destin<0)
		{
			printf("Invalid edge!\n");
			count--;
		}
		else
		{
			adj[origin][destin] = 1;
		}
	}
}

Output of the above program:

Enter number of vertices : 8
Enter edge 1( -1 -1 to quit ) : 0
2
Enter edge 2( -1 -1 to quit ) : 0
3
Enter edge 3( -1 -1 to quit ) : 0
4
Enter edge 4( -1 -1 to quit ) : 0
7
Enter edge 5( -1 -1 to quit ) : 2
1
Enter edge 6( -1 -1 to quit ) : 3
1
Enter edge 7( -1 -1 to quit ) : 4
6
Enter edge 8( -1 -1 to quit ) : 7
6
Enter edge 9( -1 -1 to quit ) : 1
5
Enter edge 10( -1 -1 to quit ) : 6
5
Enter edge 11( -1 -1 to quit ) : -1-1
Enter Start Vertex for BFS: 
0
0 2 3 4 7 1 6 5 






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