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A connected component of a topological space $X$ is a nonempty connected subset that is maximal under subset inclusion. If $C$ is a connected component and $C\subseteq D\subseteq X$ with $D$ a connected subset, then $D=C$. Maximality means that no larger connected subset contains $C$; it does not mean largest cardinality among all connected subsets.

For example, the connected components of $[-2,2]\setminus \{0\}$ in the usual subspace topology of the real line are $[-2,0)$ and $(0,2]$. Each is a real interval, and no connected subset of the real line can meet both without containing the missing point $0$. For the finite set $\{-2,0,2\}$ in the same subspace topology, the three connected components are its singleton sets.

Every point $x\in X$ lies in exactly one connected component, constructed by taking the unionAll members contain $x$, so their union is connected by connected union with a connected hub. The union includes every connected subset through $x$, so it is maximal. Equivalently, defineThis is an equivalence relation: singleton sets give reflexivity, symmetry is immediate, and two connected subsets sharing the middle point have a connected union, giving transitivity. The equivalence classes are precisely the connected components. They form a partition of a set: they cover $X$ and any two are either equal or disjoint.^[ref]

Every nonempty connected subset lies within one connected component. Moreover, every connected component is closed in $X$: closure of a connected set makes its closure connected, and maximality forces that closure to equal the original connected component. A connected component need not be open. For example, in $S=\{0\}\cup \{1/n:n=1,2,\dots \}$ with its usual subspace topology from the real line, all connected components are singleton sets, but $\{0\}$ is not open: every neighbourhood of $0$ in $S$ contains some $1/n$.^[ref]

Fix $x$, and let $C_x$ be the union of all connected subsets containing $x$. Their union is connected: a separation of the union would place $x$ on one side, and every connected member meeting that side would have to lie entirely there. The other side would be empty. By the defining equivalence relation this union is exactly the connected component of $x$.

The closure of a connected set is connected as well. Indeed, if its closure had a separation into relatively open nonempty pieces, density would make both pieces meet the original set and give a separation of that connected set. Therefore $\overline{C_x}$ is a connected subset containing $x$, so maximality gives $\overline{C_x}\subseteq C_x$. The reverse inclusion is automatic. Every connected component is connected and closed.

The convention in this question counts a point whenever every open neighbourhood meets $A$, without excluding the point itself. These are adherent points, whose set is the closure $\overline{A}$; they differ from limit points under the convention that requires a different point of $A$ in each neighbourhood.

If $A$ is a closed set and $x\notin A$, the open set $X\setminus A$ is a neighbourhood of $x$ disjoint from $A$. Thus every adherent point lies in $A$. Conversely, if every adherent point lies in $A$, each $x\notin A$ has an open neighbourhood disjoint from $A$. Their union is $X\setminus A$, which is open. Hence $A$ is closed exactly when it contains all the points specified in the question.

The interior of a set and closure areThe neighbourhood description of the closure follows because failure to be adherent is equivalent to lying in an open set disjoint from $A$.

For closure of a connected set, suppose $\overline{A}=U\bigsqcup V$ were a separation into two nonempty relatively open sets. Their intersections with the connected subset $A$ would separate $A$ unless one intersection were empty. Say $A\subseteq U$. Choose $v\in V$ and an open set $O\subseteq X$ with $v\in O$ and $O\cap \overline{A}\subseteq V$. Since $v\in \overline{A}$, the set $O$ meets $A$, contradicting $A\subseteq U$. Thus the closure of a connected set is connected. The empty-set case holds directly.

A subset $A\subseteq X$ is connected if it cannot be written as $A=U\cup V$, where $U,V$ are disjoint, nonempty sets open in the subspace topology on $A$.

If $f(X)$ were disconnected as $U\cup V$, continuity would make $f^{-1}(U)$ and $f^{-1}(V)$ a disconnection of $X$. Thus the continuous image of a connected space is connected.

For $Y=\{0,1\}$ with the discrete topology, a nonconstant continuous $h:X\to Y$ gives the disconnectionConversely, a disconnection $X=U\cup V$ defines a continuous nonconstant function by assigning $0$ on $U$ and $1$ on $V$. Hence $X$ is connected exactly when every such $h$ is constant.

Finally suppose $C$ is connected but $\mathrm{Cl}(C)=U\cup V$ is a disconnection. The intersections $C\cap U$ and $C\cap V$ cannot both be nonempty, so, after interchanging $U,V$, we have $C\subseteq U$. For any $v\in V$, the relatively open neighbourhood $V$ of $v$ in $\mathrm{Cl}(C)$ is disjoint from $C$, contradicting $v\in \mathrm{Cl}(C)$. Therefore the closure of a connected set is connected.

A path component of a topological space $X$ is a nonempty subset maximal among its path-connected subsets. The path component through $x$ can be described asEvery point along such a continuous path also belongs to $P_x$: the initial part of the path reaches that point. Thus the paths witnessing membership stay inside $P_x$. This makes path components useful for deciding which allowed positions can be reached from one another by continuous motion.

Every path component lies inside one connected component, because every path-connected space is connected. Thus each connected component is a union of path components. In a locally path-connected space the two classifications agree, by connected locally path-connected spaces are path-connected. For a subset of the real line with its usual subspace topology, the classifications also agree: every connected component is a real interval, and interpolation supplies a continuous path within it.

The topologist's sine curve shows why the distinction matters in general. Use specifically the closed versionwith the subspace topology from the usual Euclidean plane. It has one connected component, $T$, but two path components, $G$ and $L$. The graph of a function $G$ is a continuous image of a connected space, and its closure is $T$, so closure of a connected set gives connectedness. Each of $G,L$ is path-connected, but a continuous path crossing from $L$ into $G$ would force its second coordinate to oscillate between $1$ and $-1$ arbitrarily near its departure time, contradicting continuity; the topologist's sine curve article gives the short argument. Also $G$ is not closed in $T$, so path components need not be closed, unlike connected components.^[ref]

Being joined by a continuous path is an equivalence relation. Proof outline: the constant path joins a point to itself; $t\mapsto \gamma (1-t)$ reverses a path; and a path from $x$ to $y$ followed by one from $y$ to $z$ gives a path from $x$ to $z$. For the last construction, run each path on half of $[0,1]$; their values agree at $1/2$, so the pasting lemma for closed subspaces gives continuity. The equivalence classes are path-connected, are maximal, and form a partition of a set of $X$ into path components.^[ref]

Consider the graph of a function $x\mapsto \sin (1/x)$, using the sine of the multiplicative inverse of $x$, together with a vertical closed interval:Give $T$ the subspace topology from the Euclidean plane. The symbol $\times$ denotes a Cartesian product. The right endpoint $(1,\sin 1)\approx (1,0.841471)$ belongs to $G$. The continuous map $x\mapsto (x,\sin (1/x))$ sends the connected real interval $(0,1]$ onto $G$. Hence $G$ is connected, and its closure $\overline{G}=T$ is connected by closure of a connected set. Every height in $[-1,1]$ is approached as $x$ tends to zero; for example,For $n=1$, these inputs are $p_1=2/(5\pi )\approx 0.127324$ and $q_1=2/(7\pi )\approx 0.090946$. For any other height $y\in [-1,1]$, choose $\theta \ge 1$ with $\sin \theta =y$; then the sequence $(1/(\theta +2\pi n),y)$ lies in $G$ and has limit of a sequence $(0,y)$.

Nevertheless, $T$ has exactly two path components, $G$ and $L$. Within $G$, join inputs $a,b\in (0,1]$ by the continuous path $t\mapsto ((1-t)a+tb,\sin (1/((1-t)a+tb)))$. Within $L$, use $t\mapsto (0,(1-t)c+td)$ for heights $c,d\in [-1,1]$.

The obstruction to a continuous path between $L$ and $G$ is persistent oscillation, not a visible gap. Proof outline: suppose such a path exists, directed from $L$ to $G$, and take its last time in $L$. Immediately afterwards its first coordinate $x(t)>0$ approaches zero and its second coordinate is $\sin (1/x(t))$. The intermediate value theorem forces the first coordinate to pass through inputs of both displayed types arbitrarily close to that departure time. The second coordinate therefore takes both values $1$ and $-1$ arbitrarily close to that time, contradicting continuity. ^[ref]

The sampled graph of a function illustrates the formulas; it does not prove connectedness or the failure of path connectedness. Taking a closure preserves connectedness, but this example shows that it can destroy path connectedness.