What is the difference between BFS and DFS?

What is the difference between BFS and DFS?medium

Type: conceptual
Topic: bfs-dfs
Frequency: common
Roles: ml-engineer
Tags: graph, bfs, dfs

Answer

BFS explores level by level using a queue; DFS explores deeply along a path using recursion or a stack.

Explanation

BFS is useful for shortest path in unweighted graphs and level-order traversal. DFS is useful for connectivity, cycle detection, backtracking, and exploring components.

Follow-upWhich one would you use to find the shortest path in an unweighted graph?