Detect cycle in an undirected graph

Posted by on Mar 31, 2024

Given a undirected graph with "v" vertices (0 to v-1), check whether the graph contains a cycle or not.


Solutions

Method 1: Using BFS

If the graph is disconnected, then call the function for individual trees (start from each non-visited node).

Start traversing the graph in a BFS manner and keep track of visited nodes in visited[] array.

Also, keep track of the prev (parent) node; if any already visited node is found that is not the parent node, a cycle is detected.

This is because in an undirected graph we consider adjacent in both directions, and so for any node in a non-cyclic graph, there should be only one visited adjacent node (parent node).

Complexity

The time complexity of this solution is O(v+e) and space complexity is O(v).

Method 2: Using DFS

If the graph is disconnected, then call the function for individual trees (start from each non-visited node).

Start traversing the graph in a DFS manner and keep track of visited nodes in visited[] array.

Also, keep track of the prev (parent) node; if any already visited node is found that is not the parent node, a cycle is detected.

This is because in an undirected graph we consider adjacent in both directions, and so for any node in a non-cyclic graph, there should be only one visited adjacent node (parent node).

Complexity

The time complexity of this solution is O(v+e) and space complexity is O(v).

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