Find Second Largest Element in an Array in Java

Java Program

int[] a = {10, 5, 20, 8, 15};
int first = Integer.MIN_VALUE, second = Integer.MIN_VALUE;
for (int x : a) {
    if (x > first) { second = first; first = x; }
    else if (x > second && x != first) { second = x; }
}
System.out.println("Second largest: " + second);

Output

How it Works

• Track the largest and second largest while looping once.
• When a new max is found, the old max becomes second.

Summary

• This finds the second largest number in an array in a single pass.