IMPLEMENTATION OF DEPTH FIRST SEARCH ALGORITHM ON FOR FILE TRAVERSAL

Abstract File traversal is a fundamental operation in computer science, particularly in operating systems and file management applications where efficient navigation of hierarchical directory structures is required. This study focuses on the implementation of the Depth First Search (DFS) algorithm for file traversal. DFS is a graph and tree traversal algorithm that explores as far as possible along each branch before backtracking, making it suitable for navigating nested directories and subdirectories in a file system. The study presents the design and implementation of a DFS-based file traversal system that systematically visits all files and folders starting from a specified root directory. The algorithm treats the file system as a tree structure, where directories represent nodes and files represent leaf nodes. Through recursive and stack-based approaches, DFS efficiently explores directory paths while maintaining minimal memory usage compared to breadth-based traversal techniques. The implementation demonstrates how DFS can be used to perform tasks such as file searching, directory listing, and hierarchical data analysis. Experimental results show that the DFS algorithm provides effective traversal of deep directory structures with reduced overhead, making it suitable for applications requiring complete file exploration. The study concludes that Depth First Search is a reliable and efficient algorithm for file traversal operations and can be effectively applied in file systems, compilers, and other hierarchical data management systems.