Tool to decrypt / encrypt with Delastelle's Trifide cipher using 3 grids to convert each character into a triplet (grid, line, column) before transposing the grid to find an encrypted character.
Delastelle Trifid Cipher - dCode
Tag(s) : Poly-Alphabetic Cipher
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!
Delastelle Trifid Cipher
Trifid Decoder
Delastelle's Trifid Encoder
Answers to Questions (FAQ)
How to encrypt using Delastelle Trifid cipher?
The Delastelle trifid cipher uses three 9-character grids (for 27 distinct characters in total) and an integer $ N $ (usually 5 or 7).
Example: Encrypt the message SECRET, with $ N = $ 5 and grids
| Grid 1 | Grid 2 | Grid 3 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
|
|
Often, a keyword is used to generate a disordered alphabet with 27 characters (the Latin alphabet accompanied by another symbol like _ replacing any non-alphabetic character)
Step 1: For each character, search for it in grids and note are triplet of 3 corresponding digits (grid, line, column)
Example: S is in grid 3, line 1, column 1, its triplet is 311
Step 2: Write the triplets in columns, in groups of $ N $ columns next to each other and read each group in rows.
Example:
| S | E | C | R | E | | | T |
| 3 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 3 | |
| 1 | 2 | 1 | 3 | 2 | 1 | |
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 3 | 2 | 2 |
Reading group 1: 31121,12132,12332, group 2: 312
Step 3: Cut out each sequence of digits read in triplet group of 3 digits corresponding to (grid, line, column) and note the corresponding letter. These letters constitute the encrypted message.
Example: 311,211,213,212,332,312 corresponds to SJLKZT
How to decrypt Delastelle Trifid cipher?
Decryption is very similar to encryption, the difference is in step 2.
Example: Decrypt the message SJLKZT, with $ N = $ 5 and grids
| Grid 1 | Grid 2 | Grid 3 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
|
|
Step 1: identical to encryption
Step 2: Take the triplets in groups of $ N $ and write them in $ N $-length lines below each other then read each group in columns.
Example: 311,211,213,212,332,312 is written
| 3 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 1 | | | 3 | 1 | 2 |
| 1 | 2 | 1 | 3 | 2 | | | |||
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 3 | 3 | | |
Reading group 1: 311,122,113,233,123, group 2: 3,1,2
Step 3: Identical to encryption
Example: 311,122,113,233,123,312 corresponds to the plain message SECRET
How to recognize a Trifid ciphertext?
The message is theoretically composed of not more than 27 distinct characters.
What are the variants of the Trifid cipher?
The $ N $ number quickly changes the encrypted message, for better encryption, it is advisable to take a value of $ N $ first with 3.
When Trifid have been invented ?
Félix Marie Delastelle described this encryption in 1902 in his book Traité Élémentaire de Cryptographie
Source code
dCode retains ownership of the online "Delastelle Trifid Cipher" tool source code. Except explicit open source licence (indicated CC / Creative Commons / free), any "Delastelle Trifid Cipher" algorithm, applet or snippet (converter, solver, encryption / decryption, encoding / decoding, ciphering / deciphering, translator), or any "Delastelle Trifid 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 "Delastelle Trifid 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 'Delastelle Trifid Cipher' tool, so feel free to write! Thank you!