How to find second largest number in array without sorting Java

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In this post, we will see how to find the second largest number in an array.

Problem :

Given an unsorted array, you need to find the second largest element in the array in o(n) time complexity.
For example:

int[] arr1={7,5,6,1,4,2};
Second largest element in the array : 6

Solution:

You can sort the array and then return second last element in the array but it will be done in o(nlogn)  time,

Algorithm:

  • Initialize highest and secondHighest with minimum possible value.
  • Iterate over array.
  • If current element is greater than highest
    • Assign secondHighest = highest
    • Assign highest = currentElement
  • Else if current element is greater than secondHighest
    • Assign secondHighest =current element.

Create the main java class named FindSecondLargestMain.java

FindSecondLargestMain.java

package org.arpit.java2blog;

public class FindSecondLargestMain {

    public static void main(String args[])

        int[] arr1={7,5,6,1,4,2};

        int secondHighest=findSecondLargestNumberInTheArray(arr1);

        System.out.println("Second largest element in the array : "+ secondHighest);

    public static int findSecondLargestNumberInTheArray(int array[])

        // Initialize these to the smallest value possible

        int highest = Integer.MIN_VALUE;

        int secondHighest = Integer.MIN_VALUE;

        for (int i = 0; i < array.length; i++) {

            // If current element is greater than highest

            if (array[i] > highest) {

                // assign second highest element to highest element

                // highest element to current element

            } else if (array[i] > secondHighest && array[i]!=highest)

                // Just replace the second highest

                secondHighest = array[i];

        // After exiting the loop, secondHighest now represents the second

        // largest value in the array

When you run above program, you will get below output:

Second largest element in the array : 6

That’s all about how to find second largest number in an array.

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