- C Programming Examples
- C Programming Examples
- C Print Hello World
- C Get Input from User
- C Print Integer
- C Add Two Numbers
- C Add Subtract Multiply Divide
- C Add n Numbers
- C Area Perimeter of Square
- C Area Perimeter of Rectangle
- C Area Circum of Circle
- C Fahrenheit to Celsius
- C Celsius to Fahrenheit
- C Inches to Centimeters
- C Kilogram to Gram
- C Reverse a Number
- C Swap Two Numbers
- C Interchange Numbers
- C Print ASCII Value
- C Print Fibonacci Series
- C Check Palindrome or Not
- C Check Armstrong or Not
- C Find Armstrong Numbers
- C Find nCr and nPr
- C Find Profit Loss
- C Sum of their Square
- C First & Last Digit Sum
- C Sum of All Digit
- C Product of All Digit
- C Print Total Digit in Number
- C Check Perfect Number
- C Find Basic Gross Salary
- C Round Number to Integer
- C Print Series upto n Term
- C Find Factors of Number
- C if-else & Loop Programs
- C Check Even or Odd
- C Check Prime or Not
- C Check Alphabet or Not
- C Check Vowel or Not
- C Check Leap Year or Not
- C Is Reverse Equal Original
- C Make Calculator
- C Add Digits of Number
- Count Positive Negative Zero
- C Largest of Two Numbers
- C Largest of Three Numbers
- C Smallest of Two Numbers
- C Smallest of Three Numbers
- C Find Factorial of Number
- C Find LCM & HCF
- C Find LCM of n Numbers
- C Find HCF of n Numbers
- C Find Arithmetic Mean
- C Find Average, Percentage
- C Find Student Grade
- C Print Table of Number
- C Print Prime Numbers
- C Find Discount Purchase
- C Calculate Parcel Charge
- C Calculate Wage of Labor
- C Print Phone Bill
- C Conversion programs
- C Decimal to Binary
- C Decimal to Octal
- C Decimal to Hexadecimal
- C Binary to Decimal
- C Binary to Octal
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- C Octal to Decimal
- C Octal to Binary
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- C Pattern Programs
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- C Print Diamond Pattern
- C Print Floyd's Triangle
- C Print Pascal's Triangle
- C Array Programs
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- C Linear Search
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- C Largest Element in Array
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- C Second Largest/Smallest
- C Count Even Odd
- C Array Element at Even
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- C Print Even Array Elements
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- C Sum/Product of Even/Odd
- C Reverse an Array
- C Insert Element in Array
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- C Merge Two Arrays
- C Bubble Sort
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- C Print Common Elements
- C 2D Array Programs
- C Add Two Matrices
- C Subtract Two Matrices
- C Transpose a Matrix
- C Multiply Two Matrices
- C Sum All Matrix Elements
- C Largest Element in Matrix
- C Print Row Column Total
- C 3D Array Programs
- C String Programs
- C Print String
- C Find Length of String
- C Compare Two String
- C Copy a String
- C Concatenate String
- C Reverse a String
- C Count Vowels Consonants
- C Replace Vowel in String
- C Delete Vowels from String
- C Delete Word from String
- C Frequency of Character
- C Count Word in String
- C Remove Spaces from String
- C Sort a String
- C Sort String in Alphabetical
- C Sort Words in Ascending
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- C Uppercase to Lowercase
- C Lowercase to Uppercase
- C Swap Two Strings
- C Check Anagram or Not
- C Check Palindrome String
- C Print Number in Words
- C Print Successive Character
- C Character without Space
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- C Count All Character in File
- C List Files in Directory
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- C Delete a File
- C Misc Programs
- Generate Random Numbers
- C Print Date Time
- C Print Message with Time
- C Get IP Address
- C Print Smiling face
- C Pass Array to Function
- Add Two Numbers using Pointer
- C Address of Variable
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C Program to Find Smallest of Three Numbers
Here we will learn about how to find and print smallest among any given three numbers (by user at run-time) with and without using any user-defined function. At last of the tutorial, we will also see how to find out and print the smallest of three numbers using Ternary operator.
Find Smallest of Three Numbers in C
Here is the program that will find out the smallest of three numbers provided by user at run-time.
#include<stdio.h> #include<conio.h> int main() { int a, b, c, small; printf("Enter three numbers : "); scanf("%d%d%d", &a, &b, &c); if(a<b) { if(b<c) small = a; else { if(a<c) small = a; else small = c; } } else { if(b<c) small = b; else small = c; } printf("\nSmallest number is: %d", small); getch(); return 0; }
The program was written under Code::Blocks IDE, here is the first snapshot of the sample run after successful build and run:
Supply any three numbers and press ENTER key to see the smallest number among the given three numbers as shown here in the snapshot given below:
Here are some of the main steps used in above program:
- Receive any three numbers as input say 10, 20, and 30 inside the three variables say a, b, and c
- Use if block and check whether value of a is less than b or not
- If it is, then inside the if block, create another if block and check whether b is less than c
- If it is, then initialize the value of a to any variable say small
- Otherwise, check whether a is less than c or not
- If it is, then initialize a to small
- Otherwise, initialize c to small
- Now come out from the if block and enter into the else block (in case if a is not less than b)
- Check whether b is less than c or not
- If it is, then initialize b to small
- Otherwise, initialize c to small
- Now whatever the smallest value is, small holds it
- Therefore, just print the value of small variable
Here is another program to find out the smallest of any three numbers in too simple way. This program is simple and easy to understand:
#include<stdio.h> #include<conio.h> int main() { int a, b, c, small; printf("Enter three numbers : "); scanf("%d%d%d", &a, &b, &c); if(a<b && a<c) small = a; else if(b<a && b<c) small = b; else small = c; printf("\nSmallest number is: %d", small); getch(); return 0; }
Here is the final snapshot of the above program's sample run:
In above program, we have check that whether first number say a is less than both the other number say b and c or not. If it is, then we have initialized the value of a to small. In this way, we have used the logic to find out the smallest of three numbers in simple way.
C Find Smallest of Three Numbers using Function
Let's create another program that will do the same task as the above two program has done but using user-defined function. Here is the program that uses a user-defined function to return the smallest among any three numbers:
#include<stdio.h> #include<conio.h> int getSmall(int, int, int); int main() { int a, b, c, small; printf("Enter three numbers : "); scanf("%d%d%d", &a, &b, &c); small = getSmall(a, b, c); printf("\nSmallest = %d", small); getch(); return 0; } int getSmall(int num1, int num2, int num3) { if(num1<num2) { if(num2<num3) return num1; else { if(num1<num3) return num1; else return num3; } } else { if(num2<num3) return num2; else return num3; } }
Here is the final snapshot of the sample run:
C Find Smallest of Three Numbers using Ternary Operator
Let's create another program that will also find and print the smallest of three numbers but this time using Ternary operator as shown in the program given below:
#include<stdio.h> #include<conio.h> int main() { int a, b, c, small; printf("Enter three numbers : "); scanf("%d%d%d", &a, &b, &c); small = (a<b) ? (a<c?a:c) : (b<c?b:c); printf("\nSmallest = %d", small); getch(); return 0; }
Here is the final snapshot of the sample run:
The main logical code is:
small = (a<b) ? (a<c?a:c) : (b<c?b:c);
The description of above one line logical code is given below:
- Here is the expression a<b returns to be true
- then the expression a<c?a:c gets run. If this will run, then if a<c returns to be true
- then a replaces whole expression and will be initialized to small
- otherwise c replaces whole expression and will be initialized to small
- otherwise the expression, b<c?b:c gets run. If this will run, then if b<c returns to be true
- then b replaces whole expression and will be initialized to small
- otherwise c replaces whole expression and will be initialized to small
- then the expression a<c?a:c gets run. If this will run, then if a<c returns to be true
- Here we have used nested ternary operator, that is ternary operator inside ternary operator to find out smallest among three numbers
- For example, let the input value of a, b, and c is 30, 20, and 10
- Therefore, the expression a<b or 30<20 returns to be false, then the expression b<c?b:c gets run
- And as b<c or 20<10 also returns to be false, therefore c will be the final value of the whole expression
- Therefore, the value of c say 10 will be initialized to small
- Print the value of small
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