COMP171

Fall 2006

Lecture 23
Graph / Slide 2

☛ BFS we saw only tells us whether a path

exists from source s, to other vertices v.
■ It doesn’t tell us the path!
■ We need to modify the algorithm to record the path

☛ How can we do that?

■ Note: we do not know which vertices lie on this
path until we reach v!
■ Efficient solution:
Use an additional array pred[0..n-1]
Pred[w] = v means that vertex w was visited from v
Graph / Slide 3

initialize
all pred[v] to -1

Record where
you came from
Graph / Slide 4

Visited Table
Adjacency List (T/F)
0 F -
1 F -
0
2 F -
8 3 F -

source 4 F -
2 9 5 F -

1 6 F -
7 F -
3 7 8 F -
6 9 F -
4
5
Pred
Initialize visited
table (all False)

Q ={ } Initialize Pred to -1
Initialize Q to be empty
Graph / Slide 5

Adjacency List Visited Table (T/F)

0 F -
1 F -
0
2 T -
8 3 F -
4 F -
source 2 9 5 F -

1 6 F -
7 F -
3 7 8 F -
6 9 F -
4
5 Pred
Flag that 2 has
been visited.

Q= { 2 }

Place source 2 on the queue.

Graph / Slide 6

Adjacency List Visited Table (T/F)

0 F -
1 T 2
0
2 T -
Neighbors
8 3 F -
4 T 2
source 2 9 5 F -

1 6 F -
7 F -
3 7 8 T 2
6 9 F -
4
5 Pred

Mark neighbors
as visited.
Q = {2} → { 8, 1, 4 }
Record in Pred
Dequeue 2. that we came from
Place all unvisited neighbors of 2 on the queue 2.
Graph / Slide 7

Adjacency List Visited Table (T/F)

0 T 8
1 T 2
0
2 T -
8 3 F -
4 T 2
source 2 9 5 F -

1 6 F -
7 F -
3 7 Neighbors 8 T 2
6 9 T 8
4
5 Pred
Mark new visited
Q = { 8, 1, 4 } → { 1, 4, 0, 9 } Neighbors.

Record in Pred
Dequeue 8. that we came
-- Place all unvisited neighbors of 8 on the queue. from 8.
-- Notice that 2 is not placed on the queue again, it has been visited!
Graph / Slide 8

Adjacency List Visited Table (T/F)

0 T 8
1 T 2
0 Neighbors
2 T -
8 3 T 1
4 T 2
source 2 9 5 F -

1 6 F -
7 T 1
3 7 8 T 2
6 9 T 8
4
5 Pred
Mark new visited
Neighbors.

Q = { 1, 4, 0, 9 } → { 4, 0, 9, 3, 7 } Record in Pred
that we came
Dequeue 1.
from 1.
-- Place all unvisited neighbors of 1 on the queue.
-- Only nodes 3 and 7 haven’t been visited yet.
Graph / Slide 9

Adjacency List Visited Table (T/F)

0 T 8
1 T 2
0
2 T -
8 3 T 1
4 T 2
Neighbors
source 2 9 5 F -

1 6 F -
7 T 1
3 7 8 T 2
6 9 T 8
4
5 Pred

Q = { 4, 0, 9, 3, 7 } → { 0, 9, 3, 7 }

Dequeue 4.
-- 4 has no unvisited neighbors!
Graph / Slide 10

Adjacency List Visited Table (T/F)

0 T 8
Neighbors
1 T 2
0
2 T -
8 3 T 1
4 T 2
source 2 9 5 F -

1 6 F -
7 T 1
3 7 8 T 2
6 9 T 8
4
5 Pred

Q = { 0, 9, 3, 7 } → { 9, 3, 7 }

Dequeue 0.
-- 0 has no unvisited neighbors!
Graph / Slide 11

Adjacency List Visited Table (T/F)

0 T 8
1 T 2
0
2 T -
8 3 T 1
4 T 2
source 2 9 5 F -

1 6 F -
7 T 1
3 7 8 T 2
6 Neighbors 9 T 8
4
5 Pred

Q = { 9, 3, 7 } → { 3, 7 }

Dequeue 9.
-- 9 has no unvisited neighbors!
Graph / Slide 12

Adjacency List Visited Table (T/F)

0 T 8
1 T
0 2
2 T -
8 3 T
Neighbors 1
4 T 2
source 2 9 5 T 3
1 6 F -
7 T 1
3 7 8 T 2
6 9 T
4 8
5
Pred
Mark new visited
Vertex 5.
Q = { 3, 7 } → { 7, 5 }
Record in Pred
Dequeue 3. that we came
-- place neighbor 5 on the queue. from 3.
Graph / Slide 13

Adjacency List Visited Table (T/F)

0 T 8
1 T 2
0
2 T -
8 3 T 1
4 T 2
source 2 9 5 T 3

1 6 T 7
Neighbors 7 T 1
3 7 8 T 2
6 9 T 8
4
5 Pred
Mark new visited
Vertex 6.
Q = { 7, 5 } → { 5, 6 }
Record in Pred
Dequeue 7. that we came
-- place neighbor 6 on the queue. from 7.
Graph / Slide 14

Adjacency List Visited Table (T/F)

0 T 8
1 T 2
0
2 T -
8 3 T 1
4 T 2
source 2 9 Neighbors 5 T 3

1 6 T 7
7 T 1
3 7 8 T 2
6 9 T 8
4
5 Pred

Q = { 5, 6} → { 6 }

Dequeue 5.
-- no unvisited neighbors of 5.
Graph / Slide 15

Adjacency List Visited Table (T/F)

0 T 8
1 T 2
0
2 T -
8 3 T 1
4 T 2
source 2 9 5 T 3

1 Neighbors 6 T 7
7 T 1
3 7 8 T 2
6 9 T 8
4
5 Pred

Q= {6}→{ }

Dequeue 6.
-- no unvisited neighbors of 6.
Graph / Slide 16

Adjacency List Visited Table (T/F)

0 T 8
1 T 2
0
2 T -
8 3 T 1
4 T 2
source 2 9 5 T 3

1 6 T 7
7 T 1
3 7 8 T 2
6 9 T 8
4
5 Pred

Pred now can be traced backward

Q= { } STOP!!! Q is empty!!! to report the path!
Graph / Slide 17

nodes visited from

0 8
1 2
2 -
3 1
4 2
5 3
6 7
7 1
8 2
9 8

Recursive algorithm
Try some examples, report path from s to v:
Path(0) ->
Path(6) ->
Path(1) ->
The path returned is the shortest from s to v
(minimum number of edges).
Graph / Slide 18

☛ The paths found by BFS is often drawn as a rooted

tree (called BFS tree), with the starting vertex as the
root of the tree. BFS tree for vertex s=2.

Question: What would a “level” order traversal tell you?

Graph / Slide 19

d(v) = ∞;

d(s) = 0;

d(w)=d(v)+1;
Graph / Slide 20

☛ One application concerns how to find

connected components in a graph

☛ If a graph has more than one

connected components, BFS builds a
BFS-forest (not just BFS-tree)!
■ Each tree in the forest is a connected
component.