A depth-first search variant that stops expanding a branch after a specified maximum depth.
Depth-limited search (DLS) is a depth-first search variant that stops expanding a branch after a predetermined maximum depth. It prevents DFS from following an unbounded branch indefinitely. section 3.3.2section 3.6
Use the depth limit to control the main trade-offs:
Set a maximum depth and stop expanding any branch that reaches it. section 3.3.2
Retain DFS’s low-memory behavior, while accepting that a solution beyond the limit will not be found. section 3.3.2section 3.6
Choose the bound with the search space in mind; iterative deepening search increases it repeatedly when the goal depth is unknown. section 3.6
Search depth in path planning
A vehicle path-planning search can follow DFS branches and trace a route after reaching the goal; a depth limit constrains how far any branch may be explored. section 3.3.2
How Optimization Algorithms: AI techniques for design, planning, and control problems covers it
How deep it goes
Defines the depth bound and its termination effect, but does not detail a separate implementation or tuning procedure.
Examples
Situates constrained search alongside vehicle path planning and 8-puzzle examples developed for depth-first search.
What it assumes
Assumes graph-search and depth-first-search concepts while defining DLS as their depth-constrained form.
What you can do after
Evaluate when a depth bound can prevent unbounded exploration while preserving depth-first search’s low-memory advantage.
How it connects
Connects depth-first search with iterative deepening search, breadth-first search, Dijkstra’s algorithm, uniform-cost search, and bidirectional search.
depth-first searchkind of · Depth-first search is a graph or tree traversal algorithm that explores one branch as far as possible before backtracking to explore alternatives.
This explainer was generated by Manning's knowledge graph from the text of Optimization Algorithms: AI techniques for design, planning, and control problems. The section links point to the parts of the book it draws on.
