Function for finding the nth unique minimum value in a list?

Question

I have this matrix...

mat = Table[{k, 0}, {k, 0, limit}];

After a series of dynamic iterative operations, some of the 0 initialized entries (i.e., those of the 2nd column of mat, i.e., mat[[All, 2]]) are replaced w/ positive integers, e.g.,

mat = {{0,78},{1,0},{2,0},{3,11},{4,11},{5,11},...,{limit,0}}

I realize that there are several standard ways for retrieving the nth minimum value of mat[[All, 2]] but, since mat has so many 0s, they do not help me.

I am looking for a standard/elegant/efficient way to find the nth UNIQUE min value of mat, along w/ its associated row index, e.g., if limit = 6 & I wanted to find the 2nd min-value/index pair, executing...

Print[UniqueMin[mat[[All, 2]], 2]];

would output...

{4,11}

Bc 11 was the 2nd smallest unique value in mat & row 4 was where it 1st occurred.

Answer 1

UniqueMin[list_?VectorQ, n_Integer?Positive] :=
 Module[{min = Union[list][[n]]},
  {Position[list, min][[1, 1]], min}]

mat = {{0, 78}, {1, 0}, {2, 0}, {3, 11}, {4, 11}, {5, 11}};

UniqueMin[mat[[All, 2]], 2]

(* {4, 11} *)

Answer 2

An alternative approach would use PositionIndex followed by KeySort

The variants below differ in either accessing the parts of the result or using a pattern match (which is slightly slower)

(* version 1*)
Clear[UniqueMin]

UniqueMin[list_?VectorQ, n_Integer?Positive] := With[
  {entry = Take[#, {n}]& @ KeySort @ PositionIndex @ list},
  {entry[[1, 1]], Keys[entry][[1]]}]

UniqueMin[mat[[All, 2]], 2]
(* {4, 11} *)


(* version 2 *)
Clear[UniqueMin]

UniqueMin[list_?VectorQ, n_Integer?Positive] := 
 With[{entry = Take[#, {n}]& @ KeySort @ PositionIndex @ list}, 
  Replace[entry, Association[Rule[x_, List[y_, ___]]] :> {y, x}]]

UniqueMin[mat[[All, 2]], 2]
(* {4, 11} *)

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