Tool to decrypt/encrypt using masonic cipher. Pigpen cipher (also called masonic cipher or Freemason's cipher) uses a substitution alphabet made of grid parts and dots.
Pigpen Cipher - dCode
Tag(s) : Symbol Substitution
dCode is free and its tools are a valuable help in games, maths, geocaching, puzzles and problems to solve every day!
A suggestion ? a feedback ? a bug ? an idea ? Write to dCode!
Pigpen Cipher
PigPen Decoder
PigPen Encoder
Answers to Questions (FAQ)
How to encrypt using PigPen cipher?
Pig-Pen Encryption uses 26 symbols to represent each letter of the alphabet by mono-alphabetical substitution.
Symbols are created using a 3x3 grid, crosses and dots. Digits do not have symbols.
Example: DCODE is encrypted .png)
.png)
.png)
.png)
Multiple variants exist for the creation of the alphabet and each changes the association of symbols and letters (see below).
How to decrypt using PigPen cipher?
PigPen decryption consists in replacing each symbol by the corresponding letter.
Example: corresponds to letters D,C,O,D,E
How to recognize PigPen ciphertext?
The ciphered message is made from symbols with right angles which sometime has a dot (1 symbol out of 2 has a dot).
The message has a maximum of 26 distinct characters.
The presence of pigs, pens, gate or farm are clues.
The reference to Charles M. Schulz's comic book Peanuts reminds us that one of his characters is called Pigpen.
What are the variants of the Freemason's PigPen cipher?
It exists multiple variants for associating symbols and letters.
The original version combines the letters in this order:
However, variations exist, here are those identified by dCode:
| #0 | ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ (Original version, filling grids ⌗,⌗• then crosses ✕,✕•) |
| #1 | ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTVUWXZY (Variant modifying cross filling by rotation ⟲) |
| #2 | ABCDEFGHINOPQRSTUVJKLMWXYZ (⌗ then ✕ then ⌗• then ✕•) |
| #3 | NOPQRSTUVWXYZABCDEFGHIJKLM (⌗•, ✕• ⌗, ✕) |
| #4 | IJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZABCDEFGH (✕, ✕•, ⌗, ⌗•) |
| #5 | ACEGIKMOQBDFHJLNPRSUWYTVXZ (Variant alternating ⌗ and ⌗• then ✕ and ✕•) |
| #6 | ACEGIKMOQBDFHJLNPRSUYWTVZX (Variant of variant #5, filling crosses by rotation ✕⟲) |
| #7 | ABCDEFGHILMNOPRSTV-------- (Version Heinrich Cornelius Agrippa von Nettelsheim) |
| #8 | BDFHJLNPRACEGIKMOQT-V-S-U- (Version La Buse) |
The Knight Templars cipher or the rosicrucian cipher are very similar and have very close symbols.
Why was Pig Pen cipher created ?
Used by the Freemasons, this encryption allowed a written correspondence relatively difficult to decipher.
Why this cipher is named Pig Pen ?
Symbols can be assimilated to pens and dots could be interpreted as small pigs...
When PigPen have been invented?
Probably in the 18th century
Source code
dCode retains ownership of the online 'Pigpen Cipher' tool source code. Except explicit open source licence (indicated CC / Creative Commons / free), any 'Pigpen Cipher' algorithm, applet or snippet (converter, solver, encryption / decryption, encoding / decoding, ciphering / deciphering, translator), or any 'Pigpen Cipher' function (calculate, convert, solve, decrypt / encrypt, decipher / cipher, decode / encode, translate) written in any informatic language (Python, Java, PHP, C#, Javascript, Matlab, etc.) and no data download, script, copy-paste, or API access for 'Pigpen Cipher' will be for free, same for offline use on PC, tablet, iPhone or Android ! dCode is free and online.
Need Help ?
Please, check our dCode Discord community for help requests!
NB: for encrypted messages, test our automatic cipher identifier!
Questions / Comments
Thanks to your feedback and relevant comments, dCode has developed the best 'Pigpen Cipher' tool, so feel free to write! Thank you!