Data structures where data elements are not arranged sequentially or linearly are called non-linear data structures. In a non-linear data structure, single level is not involved. Therefore, we can’t traverse all the elements in single run only.
Non-linear data structures are not easy to implement in comparison to linear data structure. It utilizes computer memory efficiently in comparison to a linear data structure.
Examples of Non-linear Data Structures: trees and graphs.
Tree
It is a non-linear data structure that consists of various linked nodes. It has a hierarchical tree structure that forms a parent-child relationship. The diagrammatic representation of a tree data structure is shown below:
Graph
A graph is a non-linear data structure that has a finite number of vertices and edges, and these edges are used to connect the vertices. The vertices are used to store the data elements, while the edges represent the relationship between the vertices. A graph is used in various real-world problems like telephone networks, circuit networks, social networks like LinkedIn, Facebook. In the case of Facebook, a single user can be considered as a node, and the connection of a user with others is known as edges.