Caesar's encoding problem

I have an exercise that is based in Caesar's encoding method.
I have to encode ASCII characters from:
32 to 127 with any key.
key may be [1, any integer].

I made two functions one for encoding end the second for decoding ....when i encode a word i cant get the original back after decoding....can you help?

I think MOD is the problem..

This is the encode function:

Code:

---

char *Ceasar_enc(char text[],int key) {
char *p=text;
long int temp;
 
 while(*p){       
/*    127 - 32= 96 ascii values plus 32  to start from 32 not    from 0 and end to ascii char 127 not 96
*/
  temp=(*p+key)%96+32;
  *p++=(char)temp;
 }

---

This is the decode function-i didnt write the decode formula because every time i write one i get faulse results

Code:

---

char *Ceasar_dec(char text[],int key) {
char *p=text;
long temp;

 while(*p){
  /* i cant find the correct decode formula */
  *p++=(char)temp;
 }
 
 return text;
}

---

> temp=(*p+key)%96+32;
Write it out in long form

Code:

---

temp = *p;
temp = temp + key;
temp = temp % 96;
temp = temp + 32;

---

So to reverse it, we do

Code:

---

temp = *p;
temp = temp - 32;
// getting the idea yet?

---

no i dont understand :)
sorry

when the key +ascii value are bigger than 127 then:result mod 96
how i can get the original number?

The unsigned char datatype allows values from 0 to 255 - cast to unsigned char if you're worried about signed arithmetic.

Code:

---

char *Ceasar_enc(char text[],int key) {
char *p=text;
long int temp;
 
 while(*p){       
  temp=(*p+key)%96+32;
  *p++=(char)temp;
 }
 
 return text;
}
char *Ceasar_dec(char text[],int key) {
char *p=text;
long temp;

 while(*p){
  temp=*p;
  temp=abs(temp-32-key);
  temp=temp%96;
  *p++=(char)temp;
 }
 
 return text;
}

---

input:theo
encoded output:5)&0

then when i use the second function i get:♣☼
:(

i'm worried about the key..the key is any integer so i must use mod arithmetic

p.s:i encode characters in the interval 32-127(ascii values)
so an usnigned char array is useless...

Hello,

Caesar's encoding method is quite easy if you look at it from a simple view. I found a site that may help explain in detail how an example may go. I used it as a base to creating this program and it has helped: Caesar's Cipher [with Key b=3]

Sometimes it is always best to find a tutorial that explains how your program will work so you can reverse its content and write it in your programming language.

I do see you are on the right track, though your encryption may be off. As I have breifly looked over your code, you compute the following:

(current letter plus key) take remainder of 96 plus 32

It may be me, though this formula seems partially off. For example the word "cat". The word "cat" is 99 97 116 in ASCII. A good reference is ASCIITable.com. If you take key for 3 you would increase each of the letters by 3. If we wanted to make "cat" simple to read, we could subtract 97, or 'a', from each of the letters. That would produce 2 0 19. This way we don't have to worry about large numbers for the time being. Once we encrypt "cat", it would produce 5 3 22. We know 5 would be 102, 3 would be 100, and 22 would be 119. Neither of which succseed the 127 default ASCII mark.

Encoding
The problem with your code may be of the following. Let's take the word of "fish" and compute your formula here with the key of 5:

Code:

---

// The Letter 'f'
(102+5) = 107
107 % 96 = 11
11 + 32 = 43

---

43 is a + symbol in ASCII. A simple number of 5 changed an ASCII value from 102 to 43. Reversing your encryption may be a bit difficult, but it can be done. Let's look at how this might be possible. Let's take the letter 'f' again which is now a '+' symbol.

Decoding
First lets, lets take the number 43. This is our new encryption for our one letter. Remember how we used 96 to take the remainder between your new number the key was added to? Yes. We can add that number to our current 43. This will give us 139. We subtract the two numbers we added. 139 - 32 = 107 and 107 - 5 = 102. We know that 102 is 'f' in ASCII.


I hope this helps,
- Stack Overflow

thanks my friend but is working for keys 1-90 ,
for keys 91,92,93,94,95,96 i get chinese why? :confused:

The algorithm may be off in your current code. I'm just speculating at least. Usually the ASCII characters 1-90 aren't all printable characters.

The function isprint() is in the ctype library. This checks if the character is printable. You could pass your character or integer to see if your character is within the ASCII bounds of being printed.

Mostly, isprint() checks if the value passed is greater than or equal to 0x20 or is less than or equal to 0x7E. I'm not saying this always applies, it is just a mere example. Here is another good reference to ASCII and Hex.


- Stack Overflow

If you haven't redone your algorithm yet, here's my version

Restate the encoding process:
Take any lower case letter ASCII value and add the key value.
Modulo the sum of that to get a range of 0 to 95 inclusive.
Now add 32 to the modulus result to get range of 32 to 127
using any key that is any positive integer greater than 0.
The result is called temp and will be casted back to a char
for the visual expression of the encoded message.

The following formula does that okay.

temp = (ASCIIvalueOfChar + key) % 96 + 32;

Develop some test cases:

let: ASCIIvalueOfChar = 97;
then:
temp = 34 if key = 1
temp = 32 if key = 95
temp = 32 if key = 191
temp = 32 if key = 287

Now reverse the process to decode:

Using the above test cases the trick is to get back to 97
if temp is 32 and key is 95, 191, or 287.

To solve this start out by finding mod.

mod = temp - 32 = (ASCIIvalueOfChar + key) % 96;

then restate the equation like this

ASCIIvalueOfChar + key = x*96 + mod; where x is a positive integer

and then this

ASCIIvalueOfChar = x*96 + mod - key;

now find x such that ASCIIvalueOfChar is in range 97 to 122;

Code:

---

for(x = 1; ASCIIvalueOfChar < 97 || ASCIIvalueOfChar > 122; ++x)
ASCIIvalueOfChar = x * 96 + mod - key;

---