Program to find largest element in an array

Difficulty Level : Basic
Last Updated : 22 Feb, 2021

Given an array, find the largest element in it.
Example:

Input : arr[] = {10, 20, 4}
Output : 20

Input : arr[] = {20, 10, 20, 4, 100}
Output : 100

The solution is to initialize max as first element, then traverse the given array from second element till end. For every traversed element, compare it with max, if it is greater than max, then update max.

C++

// C++ program to find maximum
// in arr[] of size n 
#include <bits/stdc++.h>
using namespace std;
 
int largest(int arr[], int n)
{
    int i;
     
    // Initialize maximum element
    int max = arr[0];
 
    // Traverse array elements 
    // from second and compare
    // every element with current max 
    for (i = 1; i < n; i++)
        if (arr[i] > max)
            max = arr[i];
 
    return max;
}
 
// Driver Code
int main()
{
    int arr[] = {10, 324, 45, 90, 9808};
    int n = sizeof(arr) / sizeof(arr[0]);
    cout << "Largest in given array is "
         << largest(arr, n);
    return 0;
}
 
// This Code is contributed 
// by Shivi_Aggarwal

C

// C program to find maximum in arr[] of size n 
#include <stdio.h>
 
// C function to find maximum in arr[] of size n
int largest(int arr[], int n)
{
    int i;
    
    // Initialize maximum element
    int max = arr[0];
 
    // Traverse array elements from second and
    // compare every element with current max  
    for (i = 1; i < n; i++)
        if (arr[i] > max)
            max = arr[i];
 
    return max;
}
 
int main()
{
    int arr[] = {10, 324, 45, 90, 9808};
    int n = sizeof(arr)/sizeof(arr[0]);
    printf("Largest in given array is %d", largest(arr, n));
    return 0;
}

Java

// Java Program to find maximum in arr[] 
class Test
{
     static int arr[] = {10, 324, 45, 90, 9808};
      
     // Method to find maximum in arr[]
     static int largest()
     {
         int i;
          
         // Initialize maximum element
         int max = arr[0];
       
         // Traverse array elements from second and
         // compare every element with current max  
         for (i = 1; i < arr.length; i++)
             if (arr[i] > max)
                 max = arr[i];
       
         return max;
     }
      
     // Driver method
     public static void main(String[] args) 
     {
         System.out.println("Largest in given array is " + largest());
        }
 }

Python3

# Python3 program to find maximum
# in arr[] of size n 
 
# python function to find maximum
# in arr[] of size n
def largest(arr,n):
 
    # return max using max  
    # inbuilt max() function
    return (max(arr))
 
# Driver Code
arr = [10, 324, 45, 90, 9808]
n = len(arr)
 
#calculating length of an array
 
Ans = largest(arr,n)
 
#display max
print ("Largest in given array is",Ans)
 
# This code is contributed by Jai Parkash Bhardwaj

C#

// C# Program to find maximum in arr[] 
using System;
 
class GFG {
     
    static int []arr = {10, 324, 45, 90, 9808};
     
    // Method to find maximum in arr[]
    static int largest()
    {
        int i;
         
        // Initialize maximum element
        int max = arr[0];
     
        // Traverse array elements from second and
        // compare every element with current max 
        for (i = 1; i < arr.Length; i++)
            if (arr[i] > max)
                max = arr[i];
     
        return max;
    }
     
    // Driver method
    public static void Main() 
    {
        Console.WriteLine("Largest in given "
                  + "array is " + largest());
    }
}
 
// This code is contributed by anuj_67.

PHP

<?php
// PHP program to find maximum
// in arr[] of size n 
 
// PHP function to find maximum 
// in arr[] of size n
function largest($arr, $n)
{
    $i;
     
    // Initialize maximum element
    $max = $arr[0];
 
    // Traverse array elements
    // from second and
    // compare every element 
    // with current max 
    for ($i = 1; $i < $n; $i++)
        if ($arr[$i] > $max)
            $max = $arr[$i];
 
    return $max;
}   
     
    // Driver Code
    $arr= array(10, 324, 45, 90, 9808);
    $n = sizeof($arr);
    echo "Largest in given array is "
                 , largest($arr, $n);
     
// This code is contributed by aj_36
?>

Javascript

<script>
// JavaScript program to find 
// maximum in arr[] of size n 
   
    function largest(arr) { 
        let i; 
       
        // Initialize maximum element 
        let max = arr[0]; 
   
        // Traverse array elements  
        // from second and compare 
        // every element with current max  
        for (i = 1; i < arr.length; i++) {
            if (arr[i] > max) 
                max = arr[i]; 
        } 
         
      return max; 
} 
     
    // Driver code 
    let arr = [10, 324, 45, 90, 9808];
    document.write("Largest in given array is " + largest(arr));
     
 // This code is contributed by Surbhi Tyagi  
</script>

Output:

Largest in given array is 9808

Using Library Function :
We use std::max_element in C++.

C++

// C++ program to find maximum in arr[] of size n 
#include <bits/stdc++.h>
using namespace std;
 
// returns maximum in arr[] of size n
int largest(int arr[], int n)
{
    return *max_element(arr, arr+n);
}
 
int main()
{
    int arr[] = {10, 324, 45, 90, 9808};
    int n = sizeof(arr)/sizeof(arr[0]);
    cout << largest(arr, n);
    return 0;
}

Java

// Java program to 
// find maximum in
// arr[] of size n
import java .io.*;
import java.util.*;
 
class GFG
{
     
    // returns maximum in
    // arr[] of size n
    static int largest(int []arr,   
                       int n)
    {
        Arrays.sort(arr);
        return arr[n - 1];
    }
 
    // Driver code
    static public void main (String[] args)
    {
        int []arr = {10, 324, 45, 
                     90, 9808};
        int n = arr.length;
        System.out.println(largest(arr, n));
    }
}
 
// This code is contributed 
// by anuj_67.

Python3

# Python 3 program to find
# maximum in arr[] of size n 
 
# returns maximum
# in arr[] of size n
def largest(arr, n):
 
    return max(arr)
 
# driver code
arr = [10, 324, 45, 90, 9808]
n = len(arr)
 
print(largest(arr, n))
 
# This code is contributed by
# Smitha Dinesh Semwal

C#

// C# program to find maximum in
// arr[] of size n
using System;
using System.Linq;
 
public class GFG {
     
    // returns maximum in arr[] of size n
    static int largest(int []arr, int n)
    {
        return arr.Max();
    }
 
    // Driver code
    static public void Main ()
    {
        int []arr = {10, 324, 45, 90, 9808};
        int n = arr.Length;
        Console.WriteLine( largest(arr, n));
    }
}
 
// This code is contributed by anuj_67.

PHP

<?php
// PHP program to find maximum
// in arr[] of size n 
 
// returns maximum in 
// arr[] of size n
function largest( $arr, $n)
{
    return max($arr);
}
 
    // Driver COde
    $arr = array(10, 324, 45, 90, 9808);
    $n = count($arr);
    echo largest($arr, $n);
 
// This code is contributed by anuj_67.
?>

Output :

Time complexity of the above solution is $\Theta(n)$ .

Refer below article for more methods.
Program to find the minimum (or maximum) element of an array
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