Finding all cycles in a directed graph

Question

How can I find (iterate over) ALL the cycles in a directed graph from/to a given node?

For example, I want something like this:

A->B->A
A->B         


        

Answer 1

If what you want is to find all elementary circuits in a graph you can use the EC algorithm, by JAMES C. TIERNAN, found on a paper since 1970.

The very original EC algorithm as I managed to implement it in php (hope there are no mistakes is shown below). It can find loops too if there are any. The circuits in this implementation (that tries to clone the original) are the non zero elements. Zero here stands for non-existence (null as we know it).

Apart from that below follows an other implementation that gives the algorithm more independece, this means the nodes can start from anywhere even from negative numbers, e.g -4,-3,-2,.. etc.

In both cases it is required that the nodes are sequential.

You might need to study the original paper, James C. Tiernan Elementary Circuit Algorithm

";

$G = array(
        1=>array(1,2,3),
        2=>array(1,2,3),
        3=>array(1,2,3)
);


define('N',key(array_slice($G, -1, 1, true)));
$P = array(1=>0,2=>0,3=>0,4=>0,5=>0);
$H = array(1=>$P, 2=>$P, 3=>$P, 4=>$P, 5=>$P );
$k = 1;
$P[$k] = key($G);
$Circ = array();


#[Path Extension]
EC2_Path_Extension:
foreach($G[$P[$k]] as $j => $child ){
    if( $child>$P[1] and in_array($child, $P)===false and in_array($child, $H[$P[$k]])===false ){
    $k++;
    $P[$k] = $child;
    goto EC2_Path_Extension;
}   }

#[EC3 Circuit Confirmation]
if( in_array($P[1], $G[$P[$k]])===true ){//if PATH[1] is not child of PATH[current] then don't have a cycle
    $Circ[] = $P;
}

#[EC4 Vertex Closure]
if($k===1){
    goto EC5_Advance_Initial_Vertex;
}
//afou den ksana theoreitai einai asfales na svisoume
for( $m=1; $m<=N; $m++){//H[P[k], m] <- O, m = 1, 2, . . . , N
    if( $H[$P[$k-1]][$m]===0 ){
        $H[$P[$k-1]][$m]=$P[$k];
        break(1);
    }
}
for( $m=1; $m<=N; $m++ ){//H[P[k], m] <- O, m = 1, 2, . . . , N
    $H[$P[$k]][$m]=0;
}
$P[$k]=0;
$k--;
goto EC2_Path_Extension;

#[EC5 Advance Initial Vertex]
EC5_Advance_Initial_Vertex:
if($P[1] === N){
    goto EC6_Terminate;
}
$P[1]++;
$k=1;
$H=array(
        1=>array(1=>0,2=>0,3=>0,4=>0,5=>0),
        2=>array(1=>0,2=>0,3=>0,4=>0,5=>0),
        3=>array(1=>0,2=>0,3=>0,4=>0,5=>0),
        4=>array(1=>0,2=>0,3=>0,4=>0,5=>0),
        5=>array(1=>0,2=>0,3=>0,4=>0,5=>0)
);
goto EC2_Path_Extension;

#[EC5 Advance Initial Vertex]
EC6_Terminate:
print_r($Circ);
?>

then this is the other implementation, more independent of the graph, without goto and without array values, instead it uses array keys, the path, the graph and circuits are stored as array keys (use array values if you like, just change the required lines). The example graph start from -4 to show its independence.

array(-4=>true,-3=>true,-2=>true),
        -3=>array(-4=>true,-3=>true,-2=>true),
        -2=>array(-4=>true,-3=>true,-2=>true)
);


$C = array();


EC($G,$C);
echo "
";
print_r($C);
function EC($G, &$C){

    $CNST_not_closed =  false;                          // this flag indicates no closure
    $CNST_closed        = true;                         // this flag indicates closure
    // define the state where there is no closures for some node
    $tmp_first_node  =  key($G);                        // first node = first key
    $tmp_last_node  =   $tmp_first_node-1+count($G);    // last node  = last  key
    $CNST_closure_reset = array();
    for($k=$tmp_first_node; $k<=$tmp_last_node; $k++){
        $CNST_closure_reset[$k] = $CNST_not_closed;
    }
    // define the state where there is no closure for all nodes
    for($k=$tmp_first_node; $k<=$tmp_last_node; $k++){
        $H[$k] = $CNST_closure_reset;   // Key in the closure arrays represent nodes
    }
    unset($tmp_first_node);
    unset($tmp_last_node);


    # Start algorithm
    foreach($G as $init_node => $children){#[Jump to initial node set]
        #[Initial Node Set]
        $P = array();                   // declare at starup, remove the old $init_node from path on loop
        $P[$init_node]=true;            // the first key in P is always the new initial node
        $k=$init_node;                  // update the current node
                                        // On loop H[old_init_node] is not cleared cause is never checked again
        do{#Path 1,3,7,4 jump here to extend father 7
            do{#Path from 1,3,8,5 became 2,4,8,5,6 jump here to extend child 6
                $new_expansion = false;
                foreach( $G[$k] as $child => $foo ){#Consider each child of 7 or 6
                    if( $child>$init_node and isset($P[$child])===false and $H[$k][$child]===$CNST_not_closed ){
                        $P[$child]=true;    // add this child to the path
                        $k = $child;        // update the current node
                        $new_expansion=true;// set the flag for expanding the child of k
                        break(1);           // we are done, one child at a time
            }   }   }while(($new_expansion===true));// Do while a new child has been added to the path

            # If the first node is child of the last we have a circuit
            if( isset($G[$k][$init_node])===true ){
                $C[] = $P;  // Leaving this out of closure will catch loops to
            }

            # Closure
            if($k>$init_node){                  //if k>init_node then alwaya count(P)>1, so proceed to closure
                $new_expansion=true;            // $new_expansion is never true, set true to expand father of k
                unset($P[$k]);                  // remove k from path
                end($P); $k_father = key($P);   // get father of k
                $H[$k_father][$k]=$CNST_closed; // mark k as closed
                $H[$k] = $CNST_closure_reset;   // reset k closure
                $k = $k_father;                 // update k
        }   } while($new_expansion===true);//if we don't wnter the if block m has the old k$k_father_old = $k;
        // Advance Initial Vertex Context
    }//foreach initial


}//function

?>


I have analized and documented the EC but unfortunately the documentation is in Greek.