Implementation of Graph in JavaScript
In this article we would be implementing the Graph data structure in JavaScript. Graph is a non-linear data structure. A graph G contains a set of vertices V and set of Edges E. Graph has lots of application in computer science.
Graph is basically divided into two broad categories :
- Directed Graph (Di- graph) – Where edges have direction.
- Undirected Graph – Where edges do not represent any directed
There are various ways to represent a Graph :-
- Adjacency Matrix
- Adjacency List
There are several other ways like incidence matrix, etc. but these two are most commonly used. Refer to Graph and its representations for the explaination of Adjacency matrix and list.
In this article, we would be using Adjacency List to represent a graph because in most cases it has a certain advantage over the other representation.
Now Lets see an example of Graph class-
// create a graph class class Graph { // defining vertex array and // adjacent list constructor(noOfVertices) { this.noOfVertices = noOfVertices; this.AdjList = new Map(); } // functions to be implemented // addVertex(v) // addEdge(v, w) // printGraph() // bfs(v) // dfs(v) } |
The above example shows a framework of Graph class. We define two private variable i.e noOfVertices to store the number of vertices in the graph and AdjList, which stores a adjacency list of a particular vertex. We used a Map Object provided by ES6 in order to implement Adjacency list. Where key of a map holds a vertex and values holds an array of an adjacent node.
Now let’s implement functions to perform basic operations on the graph:
- addVertex(v) – It adds the vertex v as key to adjList and initialize its values with an array.
// add vertex to the graphaddVertex(v){// initialize the adjacent list with a// null arraythis.AdjList.set(v, []);}chevron_rightfilter_none - addEdge(src, dest) – It adds an edge between the src and dest.
// add edge to the graphaddEdge(v, w){// get the list for vertex v and put the// vertex w denoting edge between v and wthis.AdjList.get(v).push(w);// Since graph is undirected,// add an edge from w to v alsothis.AdjList.get(w).push(v);}chevron_rightfilter_noneIn order to add edge we get the adjacency list of the corresponding src vertex and add the dest to the adjacency list.
- printGraph() – It prints vertices and its adjacency list.
// Prints the vertex and adjacency listprintGraph(){// get all the verticesvar get_keys =this.AdjList.keys();// iterate over the verticesfor(var i of get_keys){// great the corresponding adjacency list// for the vertexvar get_values =this.AdjList.get(i);var conc ="";// iterate over the adjacency list// concatenate the values into a stringfor(var j of get_values)conc += j +" ";// print the vertex and its adjacency listconsole.log(i +" -> "+ conc);}}chevron_rightfilter_none
Lets see an example of a graph

Now we will use the graph class to implement the graph shown above:
// Using the above implemented graph class var g = new Graph(6); var vertices = [ 'A', 'B', 'C', 'D', 'E', 'F' ]; // adding vertices for (var i = 0; i < vertices.length; i++) { g.addVertex(vertices[i]); } // adding edges g.addEdge('A', 'B'); g.addEdge('A', 'D'); g.addEdge('A', 'E'); g.addEdge('B', 'C'); g.addEdge('D', 'E'); g.addEdge('E', 'F'); g.addEdge('E', 'C'); g.addEdge('C', 'F'); // prints all vertex and // its adjacency list // A -> B D E // B -> A C // C -> B E F // D -> A E // E -> A D F C // F -> E C g.printGraph(); |
Graph Traversal
We will implement the most common graph traversal algorithm:
Implementation of BFS and DFS:
- bfs(startingNode) – It performs Breadth First Search from the given startingNode
// function to performs BFSbfs(startingNode){// create a visited arrayvar visited = [];for(var i =0; i <this.noOfVertices; i++)visited[i] =false;// Create an object for queuevar q =newQueue();// add the starting node to the queuevisited[startingNode] =true;q.enqueue(startingNode);// loop until queue is elementwhile(!q.isEmpty()) {// get the element from the queuevar getQueueElement = q.dequeue();// passing the current vertex to callback funtionconsole.log(getQueueElement);// get the adjacent list for current vertexvar get_List =this.AdjList.get(getQueueElement);// loop through the list and add the element to the// queue if it is not processed yetfor(var i in get_List) {var neigh = get_List[i];if(!visited[neigh]) {visited[neigh] =true;q.enqueue(neigh);}}}}chevron_rightfilter_noneIn the above method we have implemented the BFS algorithm. A Queue is used to keep the unvisited nodes
Lets use the above method and traverse along the graph// prints// BFS// A B D E C Fconsole.log("BFS");g.bfs('A');chevron_rightfilter_noneThe Diagram below shows the BFS on the example graph:
- dfs(startingNode) – It performs the Depth first traversal on a graph
// Main DFS methoddfs(startingNode){var visited = [];for(var i =0; i <this.noOfVertices; i++)visited[i] =false;this.DFSUtil(startingNode, visited);}// Recursive function which process and explore// all the adjacent vertex of the vertex with which it is calledDFSUtil(vert, visited){visited[vert] =true;console.log(vert);var get_neighbours =this.AdjList.get(vert);for(var i in get_neighbours) {var get_elem = get_neighbours[i];if(!visited[get_elem])this.DFSUtil(get_elem, visited);}}chevron_rightfilter_noneIn the above example dfs(startingNode) is used to initialize a visited array and DFSutil(vert, visited)
contains the implementation of DFS algorithm
Lets use the above method to traverse along the graph// prints// DFS// A B C E D Fconsole.log("DFS");g.dfs('A');chevron_rightfilter_noneThe Diagram below shows the DFS on the example graph
This article is contributed by Sumit Ghosh. If you like GeeksforGeeks and would like to contribute, you can also write an article using contribute.geeksforgeeks.org or mail your article to contribute@geeksforgeeks.org. See your article appearing on the GeeksforGeeks main page and help other Geeks.
Please write comments if you find anything incorrect, or you want to share more information about the topic discussed above.
Recommended Posts:
- Graph implementation using STL for competitive programming | Set 2 (Weighted graph)
- Graph implementation using STL for competitive programming | Set 1 (DFS of Unweighted and Undirected)
- Implementation of LinkedList in Javascript
- Implementation of Stack in JavaScript
- Implementation of Queue in Javascript
- Implementation of Array class in JavaScript
- Implementation of Priority Queue in Javascript
- Implementation of Binary Search Tree in Javascript
- Convert the undirected graph into directed graph such that there is no path of length greater than 1
- Detect cycle in the graph using degrees of nodes of graph
- Implementation of BFS using adjacency matrix
- Traveling Salesman Problem (TSP) Implementation
- Push Relabel Algorithm | Set 2 (Implementation)
- Karger's algorithm for Minimum Cut | Set 1 (Introduction and Implementation)
- Bellman Ford Algorithm (Simple Implementation)


