pgr_bellmanFord - Experimental

pgr_bellmanFord — Shortest path(s) using Bellman-Ford algorithm.

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Warning

Possible server crash

  • These functions might create a server crash

Warning

Experimental functions

  • They are not officially of the current release.

  • They likely will not be officially be part of the next release:

    • The functions might not make use of ANY-INTEGER and ANY-NUMERICAL

    • Name might change.

    • Signature might change.

    • Functionality might change.

    • pgTap tests might be missing.

    • Might need c/c++ coding.

    • May lack documentation.

    • Documentation if any might need to be rewritten.

    • Documentation examples might need to be automatically generated.

    • Might need a lot of feedback from the comunity.

    • Might depend on a proposed function of pgRouting

    • Might depend on a deprecated function of pgRouting

Availability

Description

Bellman-Ford’s algorithm, is named after Richard Bellman and Lester Ford, who first published it in 1958 and 1956, respectively.It is a graph search algorithm that computes shortest paths from a starting vertex (start_vid) to an ending vertex (end_vid) in a graph where some of the edge weights may be negative. Though it is more versatile, it is slower than Dijkstra’s algorithm.This implementation can be used with a directed graph and an undirected graph.

The main characteristics are:
  • Process is valid for edges with both positive and negative edge weights.

  • Values are returned when there is a path.

    • When the start vertex and the end vertex are the same, there is no path. The agg_cost would be \(0\).

    • When the start vertex and the end vertex are different, and there exists a path between them without having a negative cycle. The agg_cost would be some finite value denoting the shortest distance between them.

    • When the start vertex and the end vertex are different, and there exists a path between them, but it contains a negative cycle. In such case, agg_cost for those vertices keep on decreasing furthermore, Hence agg_cost can’t be defined for them.

    • When the start vertex and the end vertex are different, and there is no path. The agg_cost is \(\infty\).

  • For optimization purposes, any duplicated value in the start_vids or end_vids are ignored.

  • The returned values are ordered:

    • start_vid ascending

    • end_vid ascending

  • Running time: \(O(| start\_vids | * ( V * E))\)

Signatures

Summary

pgr_bellmanFord(Edges SQL, start vid, end vid, [directed])
pgr_bellmanFord(Edges SQL, start vid, end vids, [directed])
pgr_bellmanFord(Edges SQL, start vids, end vid, [directed])
pgr_bellmanFord(Edges SQL, start vids, end vids, [directed])
pgr_bellmanFord(Edges SQL, Combinations SQL, [directed])
Returns set of (seq, path_seq, [start_vid], [end_vid], node, edge, cost, agg_cost)
OR EMPTY SET

One to One

pgr_bellmanFord(Edges SQL, start vid, end vid, [directed])
Returns set of (seq, path_seq, node, edge, cost, agg_cost)
OR EMPTY SET
Example:

From vertex \(6\) to vertex \(10\) on a directed graph

SELECT * FROM pgr_bellmanFord(
  'SELECT id, source, target, cost, reverse_cost FROM edges',
  6, 10, true);
 seq | path_seq | node | edge | cost | agg_cost
-----+----------+------+------+------+----------
   1 |        1 |    6 |    4 |    1 |        0
   2 |        2 |    7 |    8 |    1 |        1
   3 |        3 |   11 |    9 |    1 |        2
   4 |        4 |   16 |   16 |    1 |        3
   5 |        5 |   15 |    3 |    1 |        4
   6 |        6 |   10 |   -1 |    0 |        5
(6 rows)

One to Many

pgr_bellmanFord(Edges SQL, start vid, end vids, [directed])
Returns set of (seq, path_seq, end_vid, node, edge, cost, agg_cost)
OR EMPTY SET
Example:

From vertex \(6\) to vertices \(\{ 10, 17\}\) on a directed graph

SELECT * FROM pgr_bellmanFord(
  'SELECT id, source, target, cost, reverse_cost FROM edges',
  6, ARRAY[10, 17]);
 seq | path_seq | end_vid | node | edge | cost | agg_cost
-----+----------+---------+------+------+------+----------
   1 |        1 |      10 |    6 |    4 |    1 |        0
   2 |        2 |      10 |    7 |    8 |    1 |        1
   3 |        3 |      10 |   11 |    9 |    1 |        2
   4 |        4 |      10 |   16 |   16 |    1 |        3
   5 |        5 |      10 |   15 |    3 |    1 |        4
   6 |        6 |      10 |   10 |   -1 |    0 |        5
   7 |        1 |      17 |    6 |    4 |    1 |        0
   8 |        2 |      17 |    7 |    8 |    1 |        1
   9 |        3 |      17 |   11 |   11 |    1 |        2
  10 |        4 |      17 |   12 |   13 |    1 |        3
  11 |        5 |      17 |   17 |   -1 |    0 |        4
(11 rows)

Many to One

pgr_bellmanFord(Edges SQL, start vids, end vid, [directed])
Returns set of (seq, path_seq, start_vid, node, edge, cost, agg_cost)
OR EMPTY SET
Example:

From vertices \(\{6, 1\}\) to vertex \(17\) on a directed graph

SELECT * FROM pgr_bellmanFord(
  'SELECT id, source, target, cost, reverse_cost FROM edges',
  ARRAY[6, 1], 17);
 seq | path_seq | start_vid | node | edge | cost | agg_cost
-----+----------+-----------+------+------+------+----------
   1 |        1 |         1 |    1 |    6 |    1 |        0
   2 |        2 |         1 |    3 |    7 |    1 |        1
   3 |        3 |         1 |    7 |    8 |    1 |        2
   4 |        4 |         1 |   11 |   11 |    1 |        3
   5 |        5 |         1 |   12 |   13 |    1 |        4
   6 |        6 |         1 |   17 |   -1 |    0 |        5
   7 |        1 |         6 |    6 |    4 |    1 |        0
   8 |        2 |         6 |    7 |    8 |    1 |        1
   9 |        3 |         6 |   11 |   11 |    1 |        2
  10 |        4 |         6 |   12 |   13 |    1 |        3
  11 |        5 |         6 |   17 |   -1 |    0 |        4
(11 rows)

Many to Many

pgr_bellmanFord(Edges SQL, start vids, end vids, [directed])
Returns set of (seq, path_seq, start_vid, end_vid, node, edge, cost, agg_cost)
OR EMPTY SET
Example:

From vertices \(\{6, 1\}\) to vertices \(\{10, 17\}\) on an undirected graph

SELECT * FROM pgr_bellmanFord(
  'SELECT id, source, target, cost, reverse_cost FROM edges',
  ARRAY[6, 1], ARRAY[10, 17],
  directed => false);
 seq | path_seq | start_vid | end_vid | node | edge | cost | agg_cost
-----+----------+-----------+---------+------+------+------+----------
   1 |        1 |         1 |      10 |    1 |    6 |    1 |        0
   2 |        2 |         1 |      10 |    3 |    7 |    1 |        1
   3 |        3 |         1 |      10 |    7 |    4 |    1 |        2
   4 |        4 |         1 |      10 |    6 |    2 |    1 |        3
   5 |        5 |         1 |      10 |   10 |   -1 |    0 |        4
   6 |        1 |         1 |      17 |    1 |    6 |    1 |        0
   7 |        2 |         1 |      17 |    3 |    7 |    1 |        1
   8 |        3 |         1 |      17 |    7 |    8 |    1 |        2
   9 |        4 |         1 |      17 |   11 |   11 |    1 |        3
  10 |        5 |         1 |      17 |   12 |   13 |    1 |        4
  11 |        6 |         1 |      17 |   17 |   -1 |    0 |        5
  12 |        1 |         6 |      10 |    6 |    2 |    1 |        0
  13 |        2 |         6 |      10 |   10 |   -1 |    0 |        1
  14 |        1 |         6 |      17 |    6 |    4 |    1 |        0
  15 |        2 |         6 |      17 |    7 |    8 |    1 |        1
  16 |        3 |         6 |      17 |   11 |   11 |    1 |        2
  17 |        4 |         6 |      17 |   12 |   13 |    1 |        3
  18 |        5 |         6 |      17 |   17 |   -1 |    0 |        4
(18 rows)

Combinations

pgr_bellmanFord(Edges SQL, Combinations SQL, [directed])
Returns set of (seq, path_seq, start_vid, end_vid, node, edge, cost, agg_cost)
OR EMPTY SET
Example:

Using a combinations table on an undirected graph.

The combinations table:

SELECT source, target FROM combinations;
 source | target
--------+--------
      5 |      6
      5 |     10
      6 |      5
      6 |     15
      6 |     14
(5 rows)

The query:

SELECT * FROM pgr_bellmanFord(
  'SELECT id, source, target, cost, reverse_cost FROM edges',
  'SELECT source, target FROM combinations',
  false);
 seq | path_seq | start_vid | end_vid | node | edge | cost | agg_cost
-----+----------+-----------+---------+------+------+------+----------
   1 |        1 |         5 |       6 |    5 |    1 |    1 |        0
   2 |        2 |         5 |       6 |    6 |   -1 |    0 |        1
   3 |        1 |         5 |      10 |    5 |    1 |    1 |        0
   4 |        2 |         5 |      10 |    6 |    2 |    1 |        1
   5 |        3 |         5 |      10 |   10 |   -1 |    0 |        2
   6 |        1 |         6 |       5 |    6 |    1 |    1 |        0
   7 |        2 |         6 |       5 |    5 |   -1 |    0 |        1
   8 |        1 |         6 |      15 |    6 |    2 |    1 |        0
   9 |        2 |         6 |      15 |   10 |    3 |    1 |        1
  10 |        3 |         6 |      15 |   15 |   -1 |    0 |        2
(10 rows)

Parameters

Column

Type

Description

Edges SQL

TEXT

Edges SQL as described below

Combinations SQL

TEXT

Combinations SQL as described below

start vid

BIGINT

Identifier of the starting vertex of the path.

start vids

ARRAY[BIGINT]

Array of identifiers of starting vertices.

end vid

BIGINT

Identifier of the ending vertex of the path.

end vids

ARRAY[BIGINT]

Array of identifiers of ending vertices.

Optional parameters

Column

Type

Default

Description

directed

BOOLEAN

true

  • When true the graph is considered Directed

  • When false the graph is considered as Undirected.

Inner Queries

Edges SQL

Column

Type

Default

Description

id

ANY-INTEGER

Identifier of the edge.

source

ANY-INTEGER

Identifier of the first end point vertex of the edge.

target

ANY-INTEGER

Identifier of the second end point vertex of the edge.

cost

ANY-NUMERICAL

Weight of the edge (source, target)

reverse_cost

ANY-NUMERICAL

-1

Weight of the edge (target, source)

  • When negative: edge (target, source) does not exist, therefore it’s not part of the graph.

Where:

ANY-INTEGER:

SMALLINT, INTEGER, BIGINT

ANY-NUMERICAL:

SMALLINT, INTEGER, BIGINT, REAL, FLOAT

Combinations SQL

Parameter

Type

Description

source

ANY-INTEGER

Identifier of the departure vertex.

target

ANY-INTEGER

Identifier of the arrival vertex.

Where:

ANY-INTEGER:

SMALLINT, INTEGER, BIGINT

Result columns

Returns set of (seq, path_seq [, start_vid] [, end_vid], node, edge, cost, agg_cost)

Column

Type

Description

seq

INTEGER

Sequential value starting from 1.

path_seq

INTEGER

Relative position in the path. Has value 1 for the beginning of a path.

start_vid

BIGINT

Identifier of the starting vertex. Returned when multiple starting vetrices are in the query.

end_vid

BIGINT

Identifier of the ending vertex. Returned when multiple ending vertices are in the query.

node

BIGINT

Identifier of the node in the path from start_vid to end_vid.

edge

BIGINT

Identifier of the edge used to go from node to the next node in the path sequence. -1 for the last node of the path.

cost

FLOAT

Cost to traverse from node using edge to the next node in the path sequence.

agg_cost

FLOAT

Aggregate cost from start_vid to node.

Additional Examples

Example 1:

Demonstration of repeated values are ignored, and result is sorted.

SELECT * FROM pgr_bellmanFord(
  'SELECT id, source, target, cost, reverse_cost FROM edges',
  ARRAY[7, 10, 15, 10, 10, 15], ARRAY[10, 7, 10, 15]);
 seq | path_seq | start_vid | end_vid | node | edge | cost | agg_cost
-----+----------+-----------+---------+------+------+------+----------
   1 |        1 |         7 |      10 |    7 |    8 |    1 |        0
   2 |        2 |         7 |      10 |   11 |    9 |    1 |        1
   3 |        3 |         7 |      10 |   16 |   16 |    1 |        2
   4 |        4 |         7 |      10 |   15 |    3 |    1 |        3
   5 |        5 |         7 |      10 |   10 |   -1 |    0 |        4
   6 |        1 |         7 |      15 |    7 |    8 |    1 |        0
   7 |        2 |         7 |      15 |   11 |    9 |    1 |        1
   8 |        3 |         7 |      15 |   16 |   16 |    1 |        2
   9 |        4 |         7 |      15 |   15 |   -1 |    0 |        3
  10 |        1 |        10 |       7 |   10 |    5 |    1 |        0
  11 |        2 |        10 |       7 |   11 |    8 |    1 |        1
  12 |        3 |        10 |       7 |    7 |   -1 |    0 |        2
  13 |        1 |        10 |      15 |   10 |    5 |    1 |        0
  14 |        2 |        10 |      15 |   11 |    9 |    1 |        1
  15 |        3 |        10 |      15 |   16 |   16 |    1 |        2
  16 |        4 |        10 |      15 |   15 |   -1 |    0 |        3
  17 |        1 |        15 |       7 |   15 |    3 |    1 |        0
  18 |        2 |        15 |       7 |   10 |    2 |    1 |        1
  19 |        3 |        15 |       7 |    6 |    4 |    1 |        2
  20 |        4 |        15 |       7 |    7 |   -1 |    0 |        3
  21 |        1 |        15 |      10 |   15 |    3 |    1 |        0
  22 |        2 |        15 |      10 |   10 |   -1 |    0 |        1
(22 rows)

Example 2:

Making start vids the same as end vids.

SELECT * FROM pgr_bellmanFord(
  'SELECT id, source, target, cost, reverse_cost FROM edges',
  ARRAY[7, 10, 15], ARRAY[7, 10, 15]);
 seq | path_seq | start_vid | end_vid | node | edge | cost | agg_cost
-----+----------+-----------+---------+------+------+------+----------
   1 |        1 |         7 |      10 |    7 |    8 |    1 |        0
   2 |        2 |         7 |      10 |   11 |    9 |    1 |        1
   3 |        3 |         7 |      10 |   16 |   16 |    1 |        2
   4 |        4 |         7 |      10 |   15 |    3 |    1 |        3
   5 |        5 |         7 |      10 |   10 |   -1 |    0 |        4
   6 |        1 |         7 |      15 |    7 |    8 |    1 |        0
   7 |        2 |         7 |      15 |   11 |    9 |    1 |        1
   8 |        3 |         7 |      15 |   16 |   16 |    1 |        2
   9 |        4 |         7 |      15 |   15 |   -1 |    0 |        3
  10 |        1 |        10 |       7 |   10 |    5 |    1 |        0
  11 |        2 |        10 |       7 |   11 |    8 |    1 |        1
  12 |        3 |        10 |       7 |    7 |   -1 |    0 |        2
  13 |        1 |        10 |      15 |   10 |    5 |    1 |        0
  14 |        2 |        10 |      15 |   11 |    9 |    1 |        1
  15 |        3 |        10 |      15 |   16 |   16 |    1 |        2
  16 |        4 |        10 |      15 |   15 |   -1 |    0 |        3
  17 |        1 |        15 |       7 |   15 |    3 |    1 |        0
  18 |        2 |        15 |       7 |   10 |    2 |    1 |        1
  19 |        3 |        15 |       7 |    6 |    4 |    1 |        2
  20 |        4 |        15 |       7 |    7 |   -1 |    0 |        3
  21 |        1 |        15 |      10 |   15 |    3 |    1 |        0
  22 |        2 |        15 |      10 |   10 |   -1 |    0 |        1
(22 rows)

Example 3:

Manually assigned vertex combinations.

SELECT * FROM pgr_bellmanFord(
  'SELECT id, source, target, cost, reverse_cost FROM edges',
  'SELECT * FROM (VALUES (6, 10), (6, 7), (12, 10)) AS combinations (source, target)');
 seq | path_seq | start_vid | end_vid | node | edge | cost | agg_cost
-----+----------+-----------+---------+------+------+------+----------
   1 |        1 |         6 |       7 |    6 |    4 |    1 |        0
   2 |        2 |         6 |       7 |    7 |   -1 |    0 |        1
   3 |        1 |         6 |      10 |    6 |    4 |    1 |        0
   4 |        2 |         6 |      10 |    7 |    8 |    1 |        1
   5 |        3 |         6 |      10 |   11 |    9 |    1 |        2
   6 |        4 |         6 |      10 |   16 |   16 |    1 |        3
   7 |        5 |         6 |      10 |   15 |    3 |    1 |        4
   8 |        6 |         6 |      10 |   10 |   -1 |    0 |        5
   9 |        1 |        12 |      10 |   12 |   13 |    1 |        0
  10 |        2 |        12 |      10 |   17 |   15 |    1 |        1
  11 |        3 |        12 |      10 |   16 |   16 |    1 |        2
  12 |        4 |        12 |      10 |   15 |    3 |    1 |        3
  13 |        5 |        12 |      10 |   10 |   -1 |    0 |        4
(13 rows)

See Also

Indices and tables