Kruskal's Minimum Spanning Tree using STL in C++ - GeeksforGeeks

11 Nov, 2021
Given an undirected, connected and weighted graph, find Minimum Spanning Tree (MST) of the graph using Kruskal’s algorithm.


Input :   Graph as an array of edges
Output :  Edges of MST are 
          6 - 7
          2 - 8
          5 - 6
          0 - 1
          2 - 5
          2 - 3
          0 - 7
          3 - 4
          
          Weight of MST is 37

Note :  There are two possible MSTs, the other
        MST includes edge 1-2 in place of 0-7. 

We have discussed below Kruskal’s MST implementations.
Greedy Algorithms | Set 2 (Kruskal’s Minimum Spanning Tree Algorithm)
Below are the steps for finding MST using Kruskal’s algorithm
Sort all the edges in non-decreasing order of their weight.Pick the smallest edge. Check if it forms a cycle with the spanning tree formed so far. If cycle is not formed, include this edge. Else, discard it.Repeat step#2 until there are (V-1) edges in the spanning tree.
Sort all the edges in non-decreasing order of their weight.
Pick the smallest edge. Check if it forms a cycle with the spanning tree formed so far. If cycle is not formed, include this edge. Else, discard it.
Repeat step#2 until there are (V-1) edges in the spanning tree.
Here are some key points which will be useful for us in implementing the Kruskal’s algorithm using STL.
Use a vector of edges which consist of all the edges in the graph and each item of a vector will contain 3 parameters: source, destination and the cost of an edge between the source and destination.        vector<pair<int, pair<int, int> > > edges;Here in the outer pair (i.e pair<int,pair<int,int> > ) the first element corresponds to the cost of a edge while the second element is itself a pair, and it contains two vertices of edge.Use the inbuilt std::sort to sort the edges in the non-decreasing order; by default the sort function sort in non-decreasing order.We use the Union Find Algorithm to check if it the current edge forms a cycle if it is added in the current MST. If yes discard it, else include it (union).
Use a vector of edges which consist of all the edges in the graph and each item of a vector will contain 3 parameters: source, destination and the cost of an edge between the source and destination.        vector<pair<int, pair<int, int> > > edges;Here in the outer pair (i.e pair<int,pair<int,int> > ) the first element corresponds to the cost of a edge while the second element is itself a pair, and it contains two vertices of edge.
        vector<pair<int, pair<int, int> > > edges;
Here in the outer pair (i.e pair<int,pair<int,int> > ) the first element corresponds to the cost of a edge while the second element is itself a pair, and it contains two vertices of edge.
Use the inbuilt std::sort to sort the edges in the non-decreasing order; by default the sort function sort in non-decreasing order.
We use the Union Find Algorithm to check if it the current edge forms a cycle if it is added in the current MST. If yes discard it, else include it (union).
Pseudo Code:
// Initialize result
mst_weight = 0

// Create V single item sets
for each vertex v
    parent[v] = v;
    rank[v] = 0;

Sort all edges into non decreasing 
order by weight w

for each (u, v) taken from the sorted list  E
    do if FIND-SET(u) != FIND-SET(v)
        print edge(u, v)
        mst_weight += weight of edge(u, v)
        UNION(u, v)

Below is C++ implementation of above algorithm.
// C++ program for Kruskal's algorithm to find Minimum// Spanning Tree of a given connected, undirected and// weighted graph#include<bits/stdc++.h>using namespace std;  // Creating shortcut for an integer pairtypedef  pair<int, int> iPair;  // Structure to represent a graphstruct Graph{    int V, E;    vector< pair<int, iPair> > edges;      // Constructor    Graph(int V, int E)    {        this->V = V;        this->E = E;    }      // Utility function to add an edge    void addEdge(int u, int v, int w)    {        edges.push_back({w, {u, v}});    }      // Function to find MST using Kruskal's    // MST algorithm    int kruskalMST();};  // To represent Disjoint Setsstruct DisjointSets{    int *parent, *rnk;    int n;      // Constructor.    DisjointSets(int n)    {        // Allocate memory        this->n = n;        parent = new int[n+1];        rnk = new int[n+1];          // Initially, all vertices are in        // different sets and have rank 0.        for (int i = 0; i <= n; i++)        {            rnk[i] = 0;              //every element is parent of itself            parent[i] = i;        }    }      // Find the parent of a node 'u'    // Path Compression    int find(int u)    {        /* Make the parent of the nodes in the path           from u--> parent[u] point to parent[u] */        if (u != parent[u])            parent[u] = find(parent[u]);        return parent[u];    }      // Union by rank    void merge(int x, int y)    {        x = find(x), y = find(y);          /* Make tree with smaller height           a subtree of the other tree  */        if (rnk[x] > rnk[y])            parent[y] = x;        else // If rnk[x] <= rnk[y]            parent[x] = y;          if (rnk[x] == rnk[y])            rnk[y]++;    }};   /* Functions returns weight of the MST*/   int Graph::kruskalMST(){    int mst_wt = 0; // Initialize result      // Sort edges in increasing order on basis of cost    sort(edges.begin(), edges.end());      // Create disjoint sets    DisjointSets ds(V);      // Iterate through all sorted edges    vector< pair<int, iPair> >::iterator it;    for (it=edges.begin(); it!=edges.end(); it++)    {        int u = it->second.first;        int v = it->second.second;          int set_u = ds.find(u);        int set_v = ds.find(v);          // Check if the selected edge is creating        // a cycle or not (Cycle is created if u        // and v belong to same set)        if (set_u != set_v)        {            // Current edge will be in the MST            // so print it            cout << u << " - " << v << endl;              // Update MST weight            mst_wt += it->first;              // Merge two sets            ds.merge(set_u, set_v);        }    }      return mst_wt;}  // Driver program to test above functionsint main(){    /* Let us create above shown weighted       and undirected graph */    int V = 9, E = 14;    Graph g(V, E);      //  making above shown graph    g.addEdge(0, 1, 4);    g.addEdge(0, 7, 8);    g.addEdge(1, 2, 8);    g.addEdge(1, 7, 11);    g.addEdge(2, 3, 7);    g.addEdge(2, 8, 2);    g.addEdge(2, 5, 4);    g.addEdge(3, 4, 9);    g.addEdge(3, 5, 14);    g.addEdge(4, 5, 10);    g.addEdge(5, 6, 2);    g.addEdge(6, 7, 1);    g.addEdge(6, 8, 6);    g.addEdge(7, 8, 7);      cout << "Edges of MST are \n";    int mst_wt = g.kruskalMST();      cout << "\nWeight of MST is " << mst_wt;      return 0;}
Output :
 Edges of MST are 
          6 - 7
          2 - 8
          5 - 6
          0 - 1
          2 - 5
          2 - 3
          0 - 7
          3 - 4
          
          Weight of MST is 37
Optimization:The above code can be optimized to stop the main loop of Kruskal when number of selected edges become V-1. We know that MST has V-1 edges and there is no point iterating after V-1 edges are selected. We have not added this optimization to keep code simple.
References:Introduction to Algorithms by Cormen Leiserson Rivest and Stein(CLRS) 3
Time complexity and step by step illustration are discussed in previous post on Kruskal’s algorithm.
This article is contributed by Chirag Agrawal. If you like GeeksforGeeks and would like to contribute, you can also write an article and mail your article to review-team@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
varshagumber28
MST
STL
union-find
Graph
Graph
STL
union-find
Writing code in comment?
Please use ide.geeksforgeeks.org,
generate link and share the link here.
Longest Path in a Directed Acyclic Graph
Best First Search (Informed Search)
Graph Coloring | Set 2 (Greedy Algorithm)
Maximum Bipartite Matching
Graph Coloring | Set 1 (Introduction and Applications)
Find if there is a path between two vertices in a directed graph
Find minimum s-t cut in a flow network
Eulerian path and circuit for undirected graph
Real-time application of Data Structures
Iterative Deepening Search(IDS) or Iterative Deepening Depth First Search(IDDFS)