Python Program to Find Second Smallest Number in List

This article is created to cover some programs in Python, that find and prints second smallest element or number in a list entered by user. Here are the list of programs:

• Find second smallest number (element) in a list of 10 elements
• Find second largest element in a list of n elements

Find Second Smallest Number in List of 10 Elements

The question is, write a Python program to find second smallest number in a list using for loop. Here is its answer:

nums = []
print("Enter 10 Numbers (Elements) for List: ")
for i in range(10):
  nums.append(int(input()))

small = nums[0]
for i in range(10):
  if small>nums[i]:
    small = nums[i]

secondSmall = nums[0]
for i in range(10):
  if secondSmall>nums[i]:
    if nums[i]!=small:
      secondSmall=nums[i]

print("\nSecond Smallest Number is: ")
print(secondSmall)

Here is its sample run:

Now supply any 10 elements or numbers for the list say 4, 5, 6, 2, 1, 0, 3, 7, 8, 9 and press ENTER key to find and print the second smallest number from the list:

Find Second Smallest Number in List of n Elements

This program allows user to define the size of list along with its elements (numbers) to find and print the second smallest number from the given list. Let's have a look at the program given below:

nums = []
print(end="Enter the Size of List: ")
listSize = int(input())
print(end="Enter " +str(listSize)+ " Numbers for List: ")
for i in range(listSize):
  nums.append(int(input()))

small = nums[0]
for i in range(listSize):
  if small>nums[i]:
    small = nums[i]

secondSmall = nums[1]
for i in range(listSize):
  if secondSmall>nums[i] and nums[i]!=small:
    secondSmall = nums[i]

if small == secondSmall:
  print("\nSecond Smallest Number doesn't exist!")
else:
  print("\nSecond Smallest Number = " + str(secondSmall))

Here is its sample run with user input, 5 as size and 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 as five elements or numbers:

Python Online Test