C Exercises: Find the second smallest element in an array
C Array: Exercise-17 with Solution
Write a program in C to find the second smallest element in an array.
Visual Presentation:

Sample Solution:
C Code:
#include <stdio.h>
void main() {
int arr1[50], n, i, j = 0, sml, sml2nd;
// Prompt user for input
printf("\n\nFind the second smallest element in an array :\n");
printf("--------------------------------------------------\n");
printf("Input the size of the array : ");
scanf("%d", &n);
// Input values for the array
printf("Input %d elements in the array (value must be <9999) :\n", n);
for (i = 0; i < n; i++) {
printf("element - %d : ", i);
scanf("%d", &arr1[i]);
}
// Find the location of the smallest element in the array
sml = arr1[0];
for (i = 0; i < n; i++) {
if (sml > arr1[i]) {
sml = arr1[i];
j = i;
}
}
// Ignore the smallest element and find the second smallest element in the array
sml2nd = 99999;
for (i = 0; i < n; i++) {
if (i == j) {
i++; // Ignore the smallest element
i--;
} else {
if (sml2nd > arr1[i]) {
sml2nd = arr1[i];
}
}
}
// Display the second smallest element
printf("The Second smallest element in the array is : %d \n\n", sml2nd);
}
Sample Output:
Find the second smallest element in an array : -------------------------------------------------- Input the size of array : 5 Input 5 elements in the array (value must be <9999) : element - 0 : 0 element - 1 : 9 element - 2 : 4 element - 3 : 6 element - 4 : 5 The Second smallest element in the array is : 4
Flowchart:

C Programming Code Editor:
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