How to Find the Second Smallest Element in an Array in C++

In programming, an array is a data structure that contains a collection of elements of the same data type. These items are kept in contiguous memory locations, which means they are sequentially stored in memory.

Arrays are commonly used when dealing with a group of comparable elements, such as a list of integers, letters, or objects. Each element in the array is accessed using its index, which represents its location inside the array. In most programming languages, array indices begin with 0, so the first member is at index 0, the second at index 1, etc.

Example 1:

Array: {4, 2, 1, 5, 3}

• The smallest element is 1 while the second-smallest is 2.
• The function findSecondSmallest() is called with this array, and it correctly finds 2 as the second smallest element.
• Output: "Example 1: The second smallest element in the array is: 2"

Example 2:

Array: {9, 7, 6, 4, 10}

• The lowest element is 4, while the second smallest is 6.
• The function findSecondSmallest() is called with this array, and it properly finds 6 as the second smallest element.
• Output: "Example 2: The second smallest element in an array is: 6"

Pseudocode:

This pseudocode describes the steps required to identify the second smallest entry in an array:

• First, initialize variables smallest and secondSmallest to positive infinity (or the highest value possible for your data type).
• Iterate through every element of the array to check for the elements.
• If the current element is less than the smallest, update both the smallest and secondSmallest.
• If the current element is less than secondSmallest but not equal to the smallest, update secondSmallest.
• After iterating over all components, return secondSmallest.

Example 1:

Let us take an example to illustrate how to find the second smallest element in array in C++.

Output:

Example 2:

Let us take another example to illustrate how to find the second smallest element in array in C++.

Output:

Example 3:

Output: