Dijkstra's shortest path algorithm

from the Artful Common Queries page


Given a table of source-to-destination paths, each of whose nodes references a row in a nodes table, how do we find the shortest path from one node to another?

One answer is Dijkstra's algorithm (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dijkstra's_algorithm). Peter Larsson has posted a SQL Server implementation of it on the SQL Team Forum. Here is a MySQL implementation. The DDL:

DROP TABLE IF EXISTS dijnodes,dijpaths;
CREATE TABLE dijnodes (
  nodeID int PRIMARY KEY AUTO_INCREMENT NOT NULL,
  nodename varchar (20) NOT NULL,
  cost int NULL,
  pathID int NULL,
  calculated tinyint NOT NULL 
);
CREATE TABLE dijpaths (
  pathID int PRIMARY KEY AUTO_INCREMENT,
  fromNodeID int NOT NULL ,
  toNodeID int NOT NULL ,
  cost int NOT NULL
);
Here is a stored procedure to populate valid nodes and paths:
DROP PROCEDURE IF EXISTS dijAddPath;
DELIMITER |
CREATE PROCEDURE dijAddPath( 
  pFromNodeName VARCHAR(20), pToNodeName VARCHAR(20), pCost INT 
)
BEGIN
  DECLARE vFromNodeID, vToNodeID, vPathID INT;
  SET vFromNodeID = ( SELECT NodeID FROM dijnodes WHERE NodeName = pFromNodeName );
  IF vFromNodeID IS NULL THEN
    BEGIN
      INSERT INTO dijnodes (NodeName,Calculated) VALUES (pFromNodeName,0);
      SET vFromNodeID = LAST_INSERT_ID();
    END;
  END IF;
  SET vToNodeID = ( SELECT NodeID FROM dijnodes WHERE NodeName = pToNodeName );
  IF vToNodeID IS NULL THEN
    BEGIN
      INSERT INTO dijnodes(NodeName, Calculated) 
      VALUES(pToNodeName,0);
      SET vToNodeID = LAST_INSERT_ID();
    END;
  END IF;
  SET vPathID = ( SELECT PathID FROM dijpaths 
                  WHERE FromNodeID = vFromNodeID AND ToNodeID = vToNodeID 
                );
  IF vPathID IS NULL THEN
    INSERT INTO dijpaths(FromNodeID,ToNodeID,Cost) 
    VALUES(vFromNodeID,vToNodeID,pCost);
  ELSE
    UPDATE dijpaths SET Cost = pCost  
    WHERE FromNodeID = vFromNodeID AND ToNodeID = vToNodeID;
  END IF;
END; 
|
DELIMITER ;
Use dijAddpath() to populate the tables:
call dijaddpath( 'a', 'b',  4 );
call dijaddpath( 'a', 'd',  1 );
call dijaddpath( 'b', 'a', 74 );
call dijaddpath( 'b', 'c',  2 );
call dijaddpath( 'b', 'e', 12 );
call dijaddpath( 'c', 'b', 12 );
call dijaddpath( 'c', 'f', 74 );
call dijaddpath( 'c', 'j', 12 );
call dijaddpath( 'd', 'e', 32 );
call dijaddpath( 'd', 'g', 22 );
call dijaddpath( 'e', 'd', 66 );
call dijaddpath( 'e', 'f', 76 );
call dijaddpath( 'e', 'h', 33 );
call dijaddpath( 'f', 'i', 11 );
call dijaddpath( 'f', 'j', 21 );
call dijaddpath( 'g', 'd', 12 );
call dijaddpath( 'g', 'h', 10 );
call dijaddpath( 'h', 'g',  2 );
call dijaddpath( 'h', 'i', 72 );
call dijaddpath( 'i', 'f', 31 );
call dijaddpath( 'i', 'j',  7 );
call dijaddpath( 'i', 'h', 18 );
call dijaddpath( 'j', 'f',  8 );
SELECT * FROM dijnodes;
+--------+----------+------+--------+------------+
| nodeID | nodename | cost | pathID | calculated |
+--------+----------+------+--------+------------+
|      1 | a        | NULL |   NULL |          0 |
|      2 | b        | NULL |   NULL |          0 |
|      3 | d        | NULL |   NULL |          0 |
|      4 | c        | NULL |   NULL |          0 |
|      5 | e        | NULL |   NULL |          0 |
|      6 | f        | NULL |   NULL |          0 |
|      7 | j        | NULL |   NULL |          0 |
|      8 | g        | NULL |   NULL |          0 |
|      9 | h        | NULL |   NULL |          0 |
|     10 | i        | NULL |   NULL |          0 |
+--------+----------+------+--------+------------+
SELECT * FROM dijpaths;
+--------+------------+----------+------+
| pathID | fromNodeID | toNodeID | cost |
+--------+------------+----------+------+
|      1 |          1 |        2 |    4 |
|      2 |          1 |        3 |    1 |
|      3 |          2 |        1 |   74 |
|      4 |          2 |        4 |    2 |
|      5 |          2 |        5 |   12 |
|      6 |          4 |        2 |   12 |
|      7 |          4 |        6 |   74 |
|      8 |          4 |        7 |   12 |
|      9 |          3 |        5 |   32 |
|     10 |          3 |        8 |   22 |
|     11 |          5 |        3 |   66 |
|     12 |          5 |        6 |   76 |
|     13 |          5 |        9 |   33 |
|     14 |          6 |       10 |   11 |
|     15 |          6 |        7 |   21 |
|     16 |          8 |        3 |   12 |
|     17 |          8 |        9 |   10 |
|     18 |          9 |        8 |    2 |
|     19 |          9 |       10 |   72 |
|     20 |         10 |        6 |   31 |
|     21 |         10 |        7 |    7 |
|     22 |         10 |        9 |   18 |
|     23 |          7 |        6 |    8 |
+--------+------------+----------+------+
The stored procedure is a 6-step:
  • null out path columns in the nodes table
  • find the nodeIDs referenced by input params
  • loop through all uncalculated one-step paths, calculating costs in each
  • if a node remains uncalculated, the graph is invalid, so quit
  • write the path sequence to a temporary table
  • query the temp table to show the result
DROP PROCEDURE IF EXISTS dijResolve;
DELIMITER |
CREATE PROCEDURE dijResolve( pFromNodeName VARCHAR(20), pToNodeName VARCHAR(20) )
BEGIN
  DECLARE vFromNodeID, vToNodeID, vNodeID, vCost, vPathID INT;
  DECLARE vFromNodeName, vToNodeName VARCHAR(20);
  -- null out path info in the nodes table
  UPDATE dijnodes SET PathID = NULL,Cost = NULL,Calculated = 0;
  -- find nodeIDs referenced by input params
  SET vFromNodeID = ( SELECT NodeID FROM dijnodes WHERE NodeName = pFromNodeName );
  IF vFromNodeID IS NULL THEN
    SELECT CONCAT('From node name ', pFromNodeName, ' not found.' ); 
  ELSE
    BEGIN
      -- start at src node
      SET vNodeID = vFromNodeID;
      SET vToNodeID = ( SELECT NodeID FROM dijnodes WHERE NodeName = pToNodeName );
      IF vToNodeID IS NULL THEN
        SELECT CONCAT('From node name ', pToNodeName, ' not found.' );
      ELSE
        BEGIN
          -- calculate path costs till all are done
          UPDATE dijnodes SET Cost=0 WHERE NodeID = vFromNodeID;
          WHILE vNodeID IS NOT NULL DO
            BEGIN
              UPDATE 
                dijnodes AS src
                JOIN dijpaths AS paths ON paths.FromNodeID = src.NodeID
                JOIN dijnodes AS dest ON dest.NodeID = Paths.ToNodeID
              SET dest.Cost = CASE
                                WHEN dest.Cost IS NULL THEN src.Cost + Paths.Cost
                                WHEN src.Cost + Paths.Cost < dest.Cost THEN src.Cost + Paths.Cost
                                ELSE dest.Cost
                              END,
                  dest.PathID = Paths.PathID
              WHERE 
                src.NodeID = vNodeID
                AND (dest.Cost IS NULL OR src.Cost + Paths.Cost < dest.Cost)
                AND dest.Calculated = 0;
              UPDATE dijnodes SET Calculated = 1 WHERE NodeID = vNodeID;
              SET vNodeID = ( SELECT nodeID FROM dijnodes
                              WHERE Calculated = 0 AND Cost IS NOT NULL
                              ORDER BY Cost LIMIT 1
                            );
            END;
          END WHILE;
        END;
      END IF;
    END;
  END IF;
  IF EXISTS( SELECT 1 FROM dijnodes WHERE NodeID = vToNodeID AND Cost IS NULL ) THEN
    -- problem,  cannot proceed
    SELECT CONCAT( 'Node ',vNodeID, ' missed.' );
  ELSE
    BEGIN
      -- write itinerary to map table
      DROP TEMPORARY TABLE IF EXISTS map;
      CREATE TEMPORARY TABLE map (
        RowID INT PRIMARY KEY AUTO_INCREMENT,
        FromNodeName VARCHAR(20),
        ToNodeName VARCHAR(20),
        Cost INT
      ) ENGINE=MEMORY;
      WHILE vFromNodeID <> vToNodeID DO
        BEGIN
          SELECT 
            src.NodeName,dest.NodeName,dest.Cost,dest.PathID
            INTO vFromNodeName, vToNodeName, vCost, vPathID
          FROM 
            dijnodes AS dest
            JOIN dijpaths AS Paths ON Paths.PathID = dest.PathID
            JOIN dijnodes AS src ON src.NodeID = Paths.FromNodeID
          WHERE dest.NodeID = vToNodeID;
          INSERT INTO Map(FromNodeName,ToNodeName,Cost) VALUES(vFromNodeName,vToNodeName,vCost);
          SET vToNodeID = (SELECT FromNodeID FROM dijPaths WHERE PathID = vPathID);
        END;
      END WHILE;
      SELECT FromNodeName,ToNodeName,Cost FROM Map ORDER BY RowID DESC;
      DROP TEMPORARY TABLE Map;
    END;
  END IF;
END;
|
DELIMITER ;
CALL dijResolve( 'a','i');
+--------------+------------+------+
| FromNodeName | ToNodeName | Cost |
+--------------+------------+------+
| a            | b          |    4 |
| b            | c          |    6 |
| c            | j          |   18 |
| j            | f          |   26 |
| f            | i          |   37 |
+--------------+------------+------+

Last updated 26 Dec 2024