---
title: "Describe the difference between breadth-first search (BFS) and depth-first search (DFS) algorithms."  
description: "Describe the difference between breadth-first search (BFS) and depth-first search (DFS) algorithms."  
author: "Steilla Mitchel"  
published: 2023-06-13  
updated: 2023-06-16  
canonical: https://www.mindstick.com/forum/158728/describe-the-difference-between-breadth-first-search-bfs-and-depth-first-search-dfs-algorithms  
category: "data structure"  
tags: ["algorithm", "data structure"]  
reading_time: 2 minutes  

---

# Describe the difference between breadth-first search (BFS) and depth-first search (DFS) algorithms.

[Describe the difference](https://www.mindstick.com/forum/158922/describe-the-difference-between-abstract-classes-and-interfaces-in-c-sharp) between breadth-first [search](https://www.mindstick.com/articles/65368/best-smo-services-company-in-hyderabad-improve-search-rankings) ([BFS](https://www.mindstick.com/forum/157581/what-are-dfs-and-bfs-data-structures-is-there-a-better-to-use-them-instead-of-binary-search)) and [depth](https://yourviews.mindstick.com/view/84531/nepal-plane-crash-in-depth-analysis-amp-insights)-first search ([DFS](https://www.mindstick.com/forum/159486/describe-the-process-of-traversing-a-graph-using-depth-first-search-dfs)) algorithms.

## Replies

### Reply by Aryan Kumar

Sure. Breadth-first search (BFS) and depth-first search (DFS) are two algorithms for traversing or searching tree or graph data structures.

- **Breadth-first search** (BFS) starts at the root node of the tree and explores all of the nodes at the current level before moving on to the next level. This means that BFS will visit all of the nodes on the first level before visiting any of the nodes on the second level, and so on.
- **Depth-first search** (DFS) starts at the root node of the tree and explores as far down as possible before backtracking and exploring other branches. This means that DFS may visit nodes on different levels of the tree in a non-sequential order.

Here is a table that summarizes the key differences between BFS and DFS:

| Feature | Breadth-first search (BFS) | Depth-first search (DFS) |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Explores nodes | Starts at the root node and explores all of the nodes at the current level before moving on to the next level. | Starts at the root node and explores as far down as possible before backtracking and exploring other branches. |
| Order of exploration | Visits all of the nodes on the first level before visiting any of the nodes on the second level, and so on. | May visit nodes on different levels of the tree in a non-sequential order. |
| Memory usage | Uses more memory than DFS because it needs to keep track of all of the nodes that it has visited. | Uses less memory than BFS because it only needs to keep track of the current node and the nodes that it is currently exploring. |
| Time complexity | O( | V |
| Best for | Finding the shortest path between two nodes in a graph. | Finding all of the nodes in a tree that satisfy a certain condition. |


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Original Source: https://www.mindstick.com/forum/158728/describe-the-difference-between-breadth-first-search-bfs-and-depth-first-search-dfs-algorithms

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