In a stack, which element is removed first?

In a stack, the last element added is the one that is removed first, reflecting the Last In, First Out (LIFO) principle. This means that when you push an element onto the stack, it is placed on top of the existing elements. Therefore, when it comes time to pop an element from the stack, the most recently added item is the one that gets removed first.

This behavior is crucial for many computing scenarios, such as function call management in program execution and maintaining order of operations in algorithms. It is the primary characteristic that distinguishes stacks from other data structures like queues, where the first element added is the first to be removed.