Graph Generators

BGL provides iterator-based generators that produce edges for common graph models. Pass a generator iterator pair to a graph constructor or use generate_random_graph() for the simplest case.

Quick start

#include <boost/graph/adjacency_list.hpp>
#include <boost/graph/erdos_renyi_generator.hpp>
#include <boost/random/mersenne_twister.hpp>

using Graph = boost::adjacency_list<>;
boost::mt19937 gen(42);

// 100 vertices, 500 random edges
boost::erdos_renyi_iterator<boost::mt19937, Graph> start(gen, 100, 500);
boost::erdos_renyi_iterator<boost::mt19937, Graph> end;

Graph g(start, end, 100);

Choosing a generator

Model Use when Iterator

Model	Use when	Iterator
Uniform random	No structure assumed, baseline for testing	`erdos_renyi_iterator`
Scale-free (power law)	Real-world networks (web, social, biological)	`rmat_iterator`, `plod_iterator`
Small world	High clustering with short average path length	`small_world_iterator`
2D mesh / grid	Regular lattice, spatial problems	`mesh_iterator`
Clustered benchmark	Dense cliques with sparse inter-clique edges	`ssca_iterator`

Uniform random

No structure assumed, baseline for testing

erdos_renyi_iterator

Scale-free (power law)

Real-world networks (web, social, biological)

rmat_iterator, plod_iterator

Small world

High clustering with short average path length

small_world_iterator

2D mesh / grid

Regular lattice, spatial problems

mesh_iterator

Clustered benchmark

Dense cliques with sparse inter-clique edges

ssca_iterator

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