In optimization, 2-opt is a simple local search algorithm for solving the traveling salesman problem. The 2-opt algorithm was first proposed by Croes in 1958, although the basic move had already been suggested by Flood. The main idea behind it is to take a route that crosses over itself and reorder it so that it does not. A complete 2-opt local search will compare every possible valid combination of the swapping mechanism. This technique can be applied to the traveling salesman problem as well as many related problems. These include the vehicle routing problem (VRP) as well as the capacitated VRP, which require minor modification of the algorithm. Pseudocode Visually, one swap looks like: - A B - - A - B - × ==> - C D - - C - D - In pseudocode, the mechanism by which the 2-opt swap manipulates a given route is as follows. Here v1 and v2 are the first vertices of the edges you wish to swap when traversing through the route: procedure 2optSwap(route, v1, v2) { 1. take route[0] to route[v1] and add them in order to new_route 2. take route[v1+1] to route[v2] and add them in reverse order to new_route 3. take route[v2+1] to route[start] and add them in order to new_route return new_route; } Here is an example of the above with arbitrary input: Example route: A → B → E → D → C → F → G → H → A Example parameters: v1=1, v2=4 (assuming starting index is 0) Contents of new_route by step: (A → B) A → B → (C → D → E) A → B → C → D → E → (F → G → H → A) This is the complete 2-opt swap making use of the above mechanism: repeat until no improvement is made { best_distance = calculateTotalDistance(existing_route) start_again: for (i = 0; i <= number of nodes eligible to be swapped - 1; i++) { for (j = i + 1; j <= number of nodes eligible to be swapped; j++) { new_route = 2optSwap(existing_route, i, j) new_distance = calculateTotalDistance(new_route) if (new_distance < best_distance) { existing_route = new_route best_distance = new_distance goto start_again } } } } Note: If you start/end at a particular node or depot, then you must remove this from the search as an eligible candidate for swapping, as reversing the order will cause an