C Exercises: Find the smallest element and its position in an array

Last update on September 18 2025 12:35:46 (UTC/GMT +8 hours)

Find the smallest element in an array and its position

Write a C program to read an array of length 6 and find the smallest element and its position.

Pictorial Presentation:

Sample Solution:

C Code:

#include <stdio.h>
int main() {
    int e, i, sval, position;

    // Prompt user to input the length of the array
    printf("\nInput the length of the array: ");
    scanf("%d", &e);

    // Declare an array of length 'e'
    int v[e];

    // Prompt user to input the array elements
    printf("\nInput the array elements:\n ");
    for(i = 0; i < e; i++) {
        scanf("%d", &v[i]);
    }

    // Initialize 'sval' and 'position' with the first element of the array
    sval = v[0];
    position = 0;

    // Find the smallest value and its position in the array
    for(i = 0; i < e; i++) {
        if(sval > v[i]) {
            sval = v[i];
            position = i;
        }
    }

    // Print the smallest value and its position
    printf("Smallest Value: %d\n", sval);
    printf("Position of the element: %d\n", position);

    return 0;
}

Sample Output:

Input the length of the array: 5                                       
                                                                       
Input the array elements:                                              
 25                                                                    
35                                                                     
20                                                                     
14                                                                     
45                                                                     
Smallest Value: 14                                                     
Position of the element: 3

Flowchart:

For more Practice: Solve these Related Problems:

• Write a C program to find both the smallest and largest elements in an array and their indices.
• Write a C program to identify the minimum value in an array using recursion and pointer arithmetic.
• Write a C program to locate the smallest odd number and its position in an integer array.
• Write a C program to determine the index of the minimum element in an array of floating-point numbers.

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