C++ program for finding the second smallest element in an array

June 1, 2022

Second Smallest Element in an array in C++

Here, in this page we will discuss the program to find the second smallest element in an array in C++ programming language. We are given with an array and need to print the second smallest element among them.

Here, in this page we will discuss the following methods to find the second smallest element of the array.

Method 1: Uses two loops find second smallest
Method 2: Using a single loop to find second smallest

Method 1 :

Declare a variable say smallest = arr[0], that variable hold the first minimum value of the array.
Run a loop and check if(arr[i]<smallest) then set smallest = arr[i].
Now, take a variable say sec_smallest = INT_MAX
Now, run a loop over the array, and check
If(arr[i]!=smallest && arr[i] < sec_smallest), then set sec_smallest = arr[i]
At last Print(sec_smallest)

Method 1 Code in C++

Run

#include<bits/stdc++.h>
using namespace std;

int secSmallest(int arr[], int n)
{
   // assigning first element as smallest temporarily
   int smallest = arr[0];

   // we find the smallest element here
   for (int i=0; i < n; i++){
     if(arr[i] < smallest)
       smallest = arr[i];
   }

   // temporarily assinging largest max value
   int sec_smallest = INT_MAX;

   // finding second smallest here
   for (int i=0; i < n; i++){
      if(arr[i] != smallest && arr[i] < sec_smallest)
        sec_smallest = arr[i];
   }

   return sec_smallest;

}
int main()
{
    int arr[] = {70, 40, 30, 20, 10, 90};

    int n = sizeof(arr)/sizeof(arr[0]); 

    cout<<secSmallest(arr, n);
}

Output

Method 2 :

Take Two variables say first = INT_MAX and second = INT_MAX to hold the first and second smallest elements respectively.
Run a loop to iterate over the entire array.
Check if (arr[i]<first) then set second = first and first = arr[i].
Else check if(second > arr[i]) then set second = arr[i]
After complete iteration print second.

Method 2 Code in C++

Run

#include<bits/stdc++.h>
using namespace std;

int main(){

   int arr[] ={ 90, 78, 67, 56, 7, 61, 10};
   int n = sizeof(arr)/sizeof(arr[0]);

   int first = INT_MAX, second = INT_MAX;

   for(int i=0; i<n; i++){
       if(arr[i] < first){ second = first; first = arr[i]; } else if(second>arr[i])
           second = arr[i];
    }

    cout<<second;
}