


How to perform a breadth-first search (BFS) or depth-first search (DFS) on a graph in Java?
Jul 10, 2025 pm 12:25 PMImplementing the BFS and DFS of graphs in Java mainly relies on adjacency tables to represent graphs, and use queues and recursion/stacks to control access order respectively. 1. The graph usually uses HashMap or ArrayList to store adjacency relationships; 2. DFS accesses each node recursively and marks accessed; 3. BFS uses a queue to access nodes by layer to ensure first-in-first-out; 4. It is necessary to deal with the problems of null pointers, loops and non-connected graphs.
Directly answer the title question: Implementing breadth-first search (BFS) and depth-first search (DFS) of graphs in Java, mainly relying on the representation method of graphs and traversal logic. The key is to understand the processing order and data structure selection of the two algorithms.

Use an adjacency table to represent the graph
In Java, the most commonly used graph representation method is Adjacency List . HashMap
or ArrayList<arraylist>></arraylist>
is usually used to store neighbors of each node.
// Example: Adjacent table representation graph Map<Integer, List<Integer>> graph = new HashMap<>();
You can add edges like this:

graph.putIfAbsent(0, new ArrayList<>()); graph.get(0).add(1); graph.get(0).add(2);
This step is very basic, but what is easy to ignore is to ensure that each node is initialized before adding edges, otherwise a null pointer exception will be thrown.
How to implement Depth First Search (DFS)
DFS is implemented using recursion or stack, and the core idea is to access every node as deep as possible until it cannot continue to trace back.

Here is a DFS implementation that uses recursion :
public void dfs(int node, Set<Integer> visited) { visited.add(node); System.out.println("Visited: " node); for (int neighbor : graph.getOrDefault(node, Collections.emptyList())) { if (!visited.contains(neighbor)) { dfs(neighbor, visited); } } }
When calling, pass in the starting node and a visited
collection:
Set<Integer> visited = new HashSet<>(); dfs(0, visited);
Note:
- Make sure that the node in the graph is used to take the neighbors and avoid empty pointers.
- Each recursion requires checking whether it has been accessed to prevent the loop from causing stack overflow.
- If the graph may not be connected, you need to traverse all nodes to determine whether they are accessed.
How to implement Broadness-first search (BFS)
BFS uses queues to manage nodes to be accessed, expanding outward layer by layer, suitable for scenarios such as finding the shortest path.
Here is the Java implementation of BFS:
public void bfs(int start) { Set<Integer> visited = new HashSet<>(); Queue<Integer> queue = new LinkedList<>(); queue.offer(start); visited.add(start); while (!queue.isEmpty()) { int node = queue.poll(); System.out.println("Visited: " node); for (int neighbor : graph.getOrDefault(node, Collections.emptyList())) { if (!visited.contains(neighbor)) { visited.add(neighbor); queue.offer(neighbor); } } } }
Key points:
- Queues are used to control the access order.
- Must be marked as accessed before enqueuing , otherwise the same node may be repeatedly joined.
- Also, consider whether the graph is connected and call it multiple times if necessary.
Frequently Asked Questions and Precautions
- The graph may be empty or there are no certain nodes, so judgments should be made before operation.
- For undirected graphs, both directions must be added when adding edges.
- Using
HashSet
to record access status is more efficient. - Too much depth of recursion may cause stack overflow, so DFS can be rewritten with an explicit stack.
- If the node numbers are continuous, you can also use an array instead of Map.
Basically that's it.
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