breadth first search

This term is a technical specification used primarily in computer science and discrete mathematics. It describes a specific strategy for graph traversal where the search expands uniformly across the breadth of the structure, ensuring that all nodes at a given distance from the origin are visited before moving deeper. This distinguishes it from depth first search, which prioritizes exploring a single branch to its conclusion before backtracking.

In practical application, this algorithm is the standard approach for finding the shortest path in an unweighted graph. Because it explores all immediate neighbors first, the first time it encounters a target node, it is guaranteed to have found the path with the minimum number of edges.