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C Program to find Second smallest element in the array

Get array size n and n elements of array, then find the second smallest element among those elements.

Sample Input 1:

5 5 7 9 3 1

Sample Output 1:

3

Program or Solution

					    
							
#include<stdio.h>
#include<stdlib.h>
#include<limits.h>
int main()
{
	int *a,n,i,min,second_min;
	printf("Enter size of array:");
	scanf("%d",&n);

	a=malloc(sizeof(int)*n);
	printf("Enter %d Elements:",n);
	for(i=0;i<n;i++)
	{
		scanf("%d",&a[i]);
	}
	
	min=INT_MAX;
	second_min=INT_MAX;
	for(i=0;i<n;i++)
	{
		if(a[i]<min)
		{
			second_min=min;
			min=a[i];
		}
		else if(a[i] < second_min && a[i]!=min)
		{
			second_min=a[i];
		}
	}

	printf("The second minimum is : %d",second_min);
	return 0;
}
					    
					

Program Explanation

Initialize min and second_min with INT_MAX(INT_MAX is constant holds maximum integer value) visit every location in the array a) If the current element in array a[i] is less than min.

Then update min and second_min as, second_min = min min = a[i] b) If the current element is greater than min and less than second_min, then update second_min to store the value of current variable as second_min = arr[i] print the value stored in second_min.