Scribd
Upload
92 views

Playfair Cipher With Examples

The Playfair cipher was the first practical digraph substitution cipher invented in 1854. It encrypts pairs of letters (digraphs) instead of single letters using a 5x5 grid of keys, with rules to encrypt based on whether the two letters are in the same row, column, or form a rectangle. It was used for tactical communications by British and Australian forces in the 1900s due to being reasonably fast and not requiring special equipment.

Uploaded by

Richa Sharma
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
92 views

Playfair Cipher With Examples

The Playfair cipher was the first practical digraph substitution cipher invented in 1854. It encrypts pairs of letters (digraphs) instead of single letters using a 5x5 grid of keys, with rules to encrypt based on whether the two letters are in the same row, column, or form a rectangle. It was used for tactical communications by British and Australian forces in the 1900s due to being reasonably fast and not requiring special equipment.

Uploaded by

Richa Sharma
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
You are on page 1/ 4

Playfair Cipher with Examples

The Playfair cipher was the first practical digraph substitution cipher. The scheme
was invented in 1854 by Charles Wheatstone but was named after Lord Playfair who
promoted the use of the cipher. In playfair cipher unlike traditional cipher we encrypt
a pair of alphabets(digraphs) instead of a single alphabet.
It was used for tactical purposes by British forces in the Second Boer War and in
World War I and for the same purpose by the Australians during World War II. This
was because Playfair is reasonably fast to use and requires no special equipment.
 
Encryption Technique
For the encryption process let us consider the following example:
 

The Playfair Cipher Encryption Algorithm: 


The Algorithm consists of 2 steps: 
 
1. Generate the key Square(5×5): 
 The key square is a 5×5 grid of alphabets that acts as the key for
encrypting the plaintext. Each of the 25 alphabets must be unique and one letter
of the alphabet (usually J) is omitted from the table (as the table can hold only
25 alphabets). If the plaintext contains J, then it is replaced by I. 
 
 The initial alphabets in the key square are the unique alphabets of the
key in the order in which they appear followed by the remaining letters of the
alphabet in order. 
 
2. Algorithm to encrypt the plain text: The plaintext is split into pairs of two
letters (digraphs). If there is an odd number of letters, a Z is added to the last
letter. 
For example: 
 
PlainText: "instruments"
After Split: 'in' 'st' 'ru' 'me' 'nt' 'sz'
1. Pair cannot be made with same letter. Break the letter in single and add a bogus
letter to the previous letter.
Plain Text: “hello”
After Split: ‘he’ ‘lx’ ‘lo’
Here ‘x’ is the bogus letter.
2. If the letter is standing alone in the process of pairing, then add an extra bogus letter
with the alone letter
Plain Text: “helloe”
AfterSplit: ‘he’ ‘lx’ ‘lo’ ‘ez’

Here ‘z’  is the bogus letter.


Rules for Encryption: 
 
 If both the letters are in the same column: Take the letter below each one
(going back to the top if at the bottom).
For example: 
 
Diagraph: "me"
Encrypted Text: cl
Encryption:
m -> c
e -> l

 If both the letters are in the same row: Take the letter to the right of each one
(going back to the leftmost if at the rightmost position).
For example: 
 
Diagraph: "st"
Encrypted Text: tl
Encryption:
s -> t
t -> l

 If neither of the above rules is true: Form a rectangle with the two letters and
take the letters on the horizontal opposite corner of the rectangle.
For example: 
 
Diagraph: "nt"
Encrypted Text: rq
Encryption:
n -> r
t -> q

You might also like