Email this page to a friend

Depth-first search

<algorithm> A graph search algorithm which extends the current path as far as possible before backtracking to the last choice point and trying the next alternative path. Depth-first search may fail to find a solution if it enters a cycle in the graph.

This can be avoided if we never extend a path to a node which it already contains.

Opposite of breadth first search.

See also iterative deepening.

< Previous Terms	Terms Containing depth-first search	Next Terms >
Department of Defense Network depeditate dependability dependable software deprecated	backtracking breadth first search depth-first search DFS iterative deepening	deque DER dereference de-rezz derived class