Traveling Salesman Problem (TSP) Implementation

geeksforgeeks.org/traveling-salesman-problem-tsp-implementation

November 11, 2017

Difficulty Level :
Medium
Last Updated :
31 Jan, 2023

Travelling Salesman Problem (TSP) : Given a set of cities and

distances between every pair of cities, the problem is to find the
shortest possible route that visits every city exactly once and returns to
the starting point. 
Note the difference
between Hamiltonian Cycle and TSP. The
Hamiltonian cycle problem is to find if there exists a tour that visits
every city exactly once. Here we know that Hamiltonian Tour exists
(because the graph is complete) and in fact, many such tours exist, the
problem is to find a minimum weight Hamiltonian Cycle. 
For example, consider the graph shown in the figure on the
right side.
A TSP tour in the graph is 1-2-4-3-1. The cost of the tour is
10+25+30+15 which is 80.

The problem is a famous NP-hard problem. There is no polynomial-

time known solution for this problem. 
 

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Examples: 
Output of Given Graph:

minimum weight Hamiltonian Cycle :

10 + 25 + 30 + 15 := 80

Recommended: Please try your approach on {Practice} first, before

moving on to the solution.
In this post, the implementation of a simple solution is discussed.

1. Consider city 1 as the starting and ending point. Since the route is
cyclic, we can consider any point as a starting point.
2. Generate all (n-1)! permutations of cities.
3. Calculate the cost of every permutation and keep track of the
minimum cost permutation.
4. Return the permutation with minimum cost.

Below is the implementation of the above idea 

C++

// CPP program to implement traveling salesman

// problem using naive approach.

#include <bits/stdc++.h>

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using namespace std;

#define V 4

// implementation of traveling Salesman Problem

int travllingSalesmanProblem(int graph[][V], int s)

// store all vertex apart from source vertex

vector<int> vertex;

for (int i = 0; i < V; i++)

if (i != s)

vertex.push_back(i);

// store minimum weight Hamiltonian Cycle.

int min_path = INT_MAX;

do {

// store current Path weight(cost)

int current_pathweight = 0;

// compute current path weight

int k = s;

for (int i = 0; i < vertex.size(); i++) {

current_pathweight += graph[k][vertex[i]];

k = vertex[i];

current_pathweight += graph[k][s];

// update minimum

min_path = min(min_path, current_pathweight);

} while (

next_permutation(vertex.begin(), vertex.end()));

return min_path;

// Driver Code

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int main()

// matrix representation of graph

int graph[][V] = { { 0, 10, 15, 20 },

{ 10, 0, 35, 25 },

{ 15, 35, 0, 30 },

{ 20, 25, 30, 0 } };

int s = 0;

cout << travllingSalesmanProblem(graph, s) << endl;

return 0;

Java

// Java program to implement

// traveling salesman problem

// using naive approach.

import java.util.*;

class GFG{

static int V = 4;

// implementation of traveling

// Salesman Problem

static int travllingSalesmanProblem(int graph[][],

int s)

// store all vertex apart

// from source vertex

ArrayList<Integer> vertex =

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new ArrayList<Integer>();

for (int i = 0; i < V; i++)

if (i != s)

vertex.add(i);

// store minimum weight

// Hamiltonian Cycle.

int min_path = Integer.MAX_VALUE;

do

// store current Path weight(cost)

int current_pathweight = 0;

// compute current path weight

int k = s;

for (int i = 0;

i < vertex.size(); i++)

current_pathweight +=

graph[k][vertex.get(i)];

k = vertex.get(i);

current_pathweight += graph[k][s];

// update minimum

min_path = Math.min(min_path,

current_pathweight);

} while (findNextPermutation(vertex));

return min_path;

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// Function to swap the data

// present in the left and right indices

public static ArrayList<Integer> swap(

ArrayList<Integer> data,

int left, int right)

// Swap the data

int temp = data.get(left);

data.set(left, data.get(right));

data.set(right, temp);

// Return the updated array

return data;

// Function to reverse the sub-array

// starting from left to the right

// both inclusive

public static ArrayList<Integer> reverse(

ArrayList<Integer> data,

int left, int right)

// Reverse the sub-array

while (left < right)

int temp = data.get(left);

data.set(left++,

data.get(right));

data.set(right--, temp);

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// Return the updated array

return data;

// Function to find the next permutation

// of the given integer array

public static boolean findNextPermutation(

ArrayList<Integer> data)

{ 

// If the given dataset is empty

// or contains only one element

// next_permutation is not possible

if (data.size() <= 1)

return false;

int last = data.size() - 2;

// find the longest non-increasing

// suffix and find the pivot

while (last >= 0)

if (data.get(last) <

data.get(last + 1))

break;

last--;

// If there is no increasing pair

// there is no higher order permutation

if (last < 0)

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return false;

int nextGreater = data.size() - 1;

// Find the rightmost successor

// to the pivot

for (int i = data.size() - 1;

i > last; i--) {

if (data.get(i) >

data.get(last))

nextGreater = i;

break;

// Swap the successor and

// the pivot

data = swap(data,

nextGreater, last);

// Reverse the suffix

data = reverse(data, last + 1,

data.size() - 1);

// Return true as the

// next_permutation is done

return true;

// Driver Code

public static void main(String args[])

// matrix representation of graph

int graph[][] = {{0, 10, 15, 20},

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{10, 0, 35, 25},

{15, 35, 0, 30},

{20, 25, 30, 0}};

int s = 0;

System.out.println(

travllingSalesmanProblem(graph, s));

// This code is contributed by adityapande88

Python3

# Python3 program to implement traveling salesman

# problem using naive approach.

from sys import maxsize

from itertools import permutations

V =4

# implementation of traveling Salesman Problem

def travellingSalesmanProblem(graph, s):

# store all vertex apart from source vertex

vertex = []

for i in range(V):

if i != s:

vertex.append(i)

# store minimum weight Hamiltonian Cycle

min_path = maxsize

next_permutation=permutations(vertex)

for i in next_permutation:

# store current Path weight(cost)

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current_pathweight = 0

# compute current path weight

k =s

for j in i:

current_pathweight += graph[k][j]

k =j

current_pathweight += graph[k][s]

# update minimum

min_path = min(min_path, current_pathweight)

return min_path

# Driver Code

if __name__ == "__main__":

# matrix representation of graph

graph = [[0, 10, 15, 20], [10, 0, 35, 25],

[15, 35, 0, 30], [20, 25, 30, 0]]

s =0

print(travellingSalesmanProblem(graph, s))

C#

// C# program to implement

// traveling salesman problem

// using naive approach.

using System;

using System.Collections.Generic;

class GFG {

static int V = 4;

// implementation of traveling Salesman Problem

10/19
static int travllingSalesmanProblem(int[, ] graph,

int s)

List<int> vertex = new List<int>();

for (int i = 0; i < V; i++)

if (i != s)

vertex.Add(i);

// store minimum weight

// Hamiltonian Cycle.

int min_path = Int32.MaxValue;

do {

// store current Path weight(cost)

int current_pathweight = 0;

int k = s;

// compute current path weight

for (int i = 0; i < vertex.Count; i++) {

current_pathweight += graph[k, vertex[i]];

k = vertex[i];

current_pathweight += graph[k, s];

// update minimum

min_path

= Math.Min(min_path, current_pathweight);

} while (findNextPermutation(vertex));

return min_path;

// Function to swap the data resent in the left and

// right indices

public static List<int> swap(List<int> data, int left,

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int right)

// Swap the data

int temp = data[left];

data[left] = data[right];

data[right] = temp;

// Return the updated array

return data;

// Function to reverse the sub-array starting from left

// to the right both inclusive

public static List<int> reverse(List<int> data,

int left, int right)

// Reverse the sub-array

while (left < right) {

int temp = data[left];

data[left++] = data[right];

data[right--] = temp;

// Return the updated array

return data;

// Function to find the next permutation of the given

// integer array

public static bool findNextPermutation(List<int> data)

// If the given dataset is empty

// or contains only one element

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// next_permutation is not possible

if (data.Count <= 1)

return false;

int last = data.Count - 2;

// find the longest non-increasing

// suffix and find the pivot

while (last >= 0) {

if (data[last] <  data[last + 1])

break;

last--;

// If there is no increasing pair

// there is no higher order permutation

if (last < 0)

return false;

int nextGreater = data.Count - 1;

// Find the rightmost successor

// to the pivot

for (int i = data.Count - 1; i > last; i--) {

if (data[i] >  data[last]) {

nextGreater = i;

break;

// Swap the successor and

// the pivot

data = swap(data, nextGreater, last);

// Reverse the suffix

data = reverse(data, last + 1, data.Count - 1);

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// Return true as the

// next_permutation is done

return true;

// Driver Code

public static void Main(string[] args)

//   matrix representation of graph

int[, ] graph

= new int[4, 4] { { 0, 10, 15, 20 },

{ 10, 0, 35, 25 },

{ 15, 35, 0, 30 },

{ 20, 25, 30, 45 } };

int s = 0;

Console.WriteLine(

travllingSalesmanProblem(graph, s));

// This code is contributed by Tapesh(tapeshdua420)

Javascript

// JavaScript program to implement

// traveling salesman problem

// using naive approach.

const V = 4;

// implementation of traveling

// Salesman Problem

const travllingSalesmanProblem = (graph, s) => {

// store all vertex apart

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// from source vertex

let vertex = [];

for (let i = 0; i < V; i++) {

if (i !== s) {

vertex.push(i);

 
// store minimum weight

// Hamiltonian Cycle.

let min_path = Number.MAX_VALUE;

do {

// store current Path weight(cost)

let current_pathweight = 0;

 
// compute current path weight

let k = s;

for (let i = 0; i < vertex.length; i++) {

current_pathweight += graph[k][vertex[i]];

k = vertex[i];

current_pathweight += graph[k][s];

 
// update minimum

min_path = Math.min(min_path, current_pathweight);

} while (findNextPermutation(vertex));

return min_path;

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}

// Function to swap the data

// present in the left and right indices

const swap = (data, left, right) => {

// Swap the data

let temp = data[left];

data[left] = data[right];

data[right] = temp;

 
// Return the updated array

return data;

// Function to reverse the sub-array

// starting from left to the right

// both inclusive

const reverse = (data, left, right) => {

// Reverse the sub-array

while (left < right) {

let temp = data[left];

data[left++] = data[right];

data[right--] = temp;

 
// Return the updated array

return data;

// Function to find the next permutation

// of the given integer array

const findNextPermutation = (data) => {

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// If the given dataset is empty

// or contains only one element

// next_permutation is not possible

if (data.length <= 1) {

return false;

let last = data.length - 2;

 
// find the longest non-increasing

// suffix and find the pivot

while (last >= 0) {

if (data[last] < data[last + 1]) {

break;

last--;

 
// If there is no increasing pair

// there is no higher order permutation

if (last < 0) {

return false;

let nextGreater = data.length - 1;

 
// Find the rightmost successor

// to the pivot

for (let i = data.length - 1; i > last; i--) {

if (data[i] > data[last]) {

nextGreater = i;

17/19
break;

// Swap the successor and

// the pivot

data = swap(data, nextGreater, last);

// Reverse the suffix

data = reverse(data, last + 1, data.length - 1);

 
// Return true as the

// next_permutation is done

return true;

// Driver Code

const graph = [[0, 10, 15, 20], [10, 0, 35, 25], [15, 35, 0, 30], [20, 25,
30, 0]];

let s = 0;

console.log(travllingSalesmanProblem(graph, s));

// This code is contributed by ishankhandelwals.

Output
80

Time complexity:  O(n!) where n is the number of vertices in the

graph. This is because the algorithm uses the next_permutation
function which generates all the possible permutations of the vertex

18/19
set. 
Auxiliary Space: O(n) as we are using a vector to store all the
vertices.

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Problem
Article Contributed By :

Nishant_Singh
@Nishant_Singh
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