:orphan:
# PetscSF
PETSc object for setting up and managing the communication of certain entries of arrays and `Vec` between MPI ranks.
## Synopsis
```
typedef struct _p_PetscSF *PetscSF;
```
`PetscSF` uses the concept of star forests to indicate and determine the communication patterns concisely and efficiently.
A star https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Star_(graph_theory) forest is simply a collection of trees of height 1. The leave nodes represent
"ghost locations" for the root nodes.
## See Also
`PetscSFCreate()`, `VecScatter`, `VecScatterCreate()`
## Level
intermediate
## Location
include/petscsftypes.h
## Examples
src/vec/is/sf/tutorials/ex1.c
src/vec/is/sf/tutorials/ex2.c
src/vec/is/sf/tutorials/ex3.c
## Implementations
_p_PetscSF in include/petsc/private/sfimpl.h
---
[Edit on GitLab](https://gitlab.com/petsc/petsc/-/edit/release/include/petscsftypes.h)
[Index of all PetscSF routines](index.md)
[Table of Contents for all manual pages](/manualpages/index.md)
[Index of all manual pages](/manualpages/singleindex.md)