Implementing Atbash Cipher

Definition: Atbash cipher is a substitution cipher with just one specific key where all the letters are reversed that is A to Z and Z to A. It was originally used to encode the Hebrew alphabets but it can be modified to encode any alphabet. 

Relationship to Affine: Atbash cipher can be thought of as a special case of Affine cipher with both the keys being 25, i.e, a = 25 & b = 25

Atbash Key

Algorithm: The following key is used in the Atbash algorithm

ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ
ZYXWVUTSRQPONMLKJIHGFEDCBA

Encryption

To encipher a message, find the letter you wish to encipher in the top row, then replace it with the letter in the bottom row. In the example below, we encipher the message ‘GEEKS FOR GEEKS’. The first letter we wish to encipher is ‘G’, which is above ‘T’, so the first ciphertext letter is ‘T’. The next letter is ‘E’, which is above ‘V’, so that comes next. The whole message is enciphered as:

GEEKS FOR GEEKS
TVVPH ULI TVVPH

Decryption

Similarly if we want to decrypt say ‘TVVPH ULI TVVPH’ we would replace the first letter ‘T’ with ‘G’. The second letter ‘V’ with ‘E’ and so forth substituting all letters including the last one ‘H’ with ‘S’. The deciphered message will be :

TVVPH ULI TVVPH
GEEKS FOR GEEKS

The Approach: Here, mapping of every element is done for the key as ‘key-value’ pairs in a dictionary and then it is used as a lookup table whenever you want to encrypt a single character. Code:

Implementation:

C++

// C++ program to implement Atbash Cipher

#include<bits/stdc++.h>
using namespace std;

// Map to lookup various alphabets
map<char, char> lookup_table = {{'A', 'Z'}, {'B', 'Y'}, {'C', 'X'}, {'D', 'W'}, {'E', 'V'}, {'F', 'U'},
                                {'G', 'T'}, {'H', 'S'}, {'I', 'R'}, {'J', 'Q'}, {'K', 'P'}, {'L', 'O'},
                                {'M', 'N'}, {'N', 'M'}, {'O', 'L'}, {'P', 'K'}, {'Q', 'J'}, {'R', 'I'},
                                {'S', 'H'}, {'T', 'G'}, {'U', 'F'}, {'V', 'E'}, {'W', 'D'}, {'X', 'C'},
                                {'Y', 'B'}, {'Z', 'A'}};

// Function to implement Atbash Cipher
string atbash(string message)
{
    string cipher = "";
    for(char letter : message)
    {
        // Checking for space
        if(letter != ' ')
        {
            // Adds the corresponding letter from the lookup_table
            cipher += lookup_table[toupper(letter)];
        }
        else
        {
            // Adds space
            cipher += ' ';
        }
    }
    return cipher;
}

// Driver function to run the program
int main()
{
    // Encrypt the given message
    string message = "GEEKS FOR GEEKS";
    cout << atbash(message) << "\n";

    // Decrypt the given message
    message = "TVVPH ULI TVVPH";
    cout << atbash(message) << "\n";

    return 0;
}

// This code is contrbuted by prince

Java

// Java program to implement Atbash Cipher

import java.util.HashMap;

public class Main {
    // Map to lookup various alphabets
    static HashMap<Character, Character> lookup_table = new HashMap<Character, Character>(){{
        put('A', 'Z'); put('B', 'Y'); put('C', 'X'); put('D', 'W'); put('E', 'V'); put('F', 'U');
        put('G', 'T'); put('H', 'S'); put('I', 'R'); put('J', 'Q'); put('K', 'P'); put('L', 'O');
        put('M', 'N'); put('N', 'M'); put('O', 'L'); put('P', 'K'); put('Q', 'J'); put('R', 'I');
        put('S', 'H'); put('T', 'G'); put('U', 'F'); put('V', 'E'); put('W', 'D'); put('X', 'C');
        put('Y', 'B'); put('Z', 'A');
    }};

    // Function to implement Atbash Cipher
    public static String atbash(String message)
    {
        String cipher = "";
        for(char letter : message.toCharArray())
        {
            // Checking for space
            if(letter != ' ')
            {
                // Adds the corresponding letter from the lookup_table
                cipher += Character.toLowerCase(lookup_table.get(Character.toUpperCase(letter)));
            }
            else
            {
                // Adds space
                cipher += ' ';
            }
        }
        return cipher;
    }

    // Driver function to run the program
    public static void main(String[] args)
    {
        // Encrypt the given message
        String message = "GEEKS FOR GEEKS";
        System.out.println(atbash(message));

        // Decrypt the given message
        message = "TVVPH ULI TVVPH";
        System.out.println(atbash(message));
    }
}

// Contributed by adityasharmadev01

Python

# Python program to implement Atbash Cipher

# This script uses dictionaries to lookup various alphabets
lookup_table = {'A' : 'Z', 'B' : 'Y', 'C' : 'X', 'D' : 'W', 'E' : 'V',
        'F' : 'U', 'G' : 'T', 'H' : 'S', 'I' : 'R', 'J' : 'Q',
        'K' : 'P', 'L' : 'O', 'M' : 'N', 'N' : 'M', 'O' : 'L',
        'P' : 'K', 'Q' : 'J', 'R' : 'I', 'S' : 'H', 'T' : 'G',
        'U' : 'F', 'V' : 'E', 'W' : 'D', 'X' : 'C', 'Y' : 'B', 'Z' : 'A'}

def atbash(message):
    cipher = ''
    for letter in message:
        # checks for space
        if(letter != ' '):
            #adds the corresponding letter from the lookup_table
            cipher += lookup_table[letter]
        else:
            # adds space
            cipher += ' '

    return cipher

# Driver function to run the program
def main():
    #encrypt the given message
    message = 'GEEKS FOR GEEKS'
    print(atbash(message.upper()))

    #decrypt the given message
    message = 'TVVPH ULI TVVPH'
    print(atbash(message.upper()))


# Executes the main function
if __name__ == '__main__':
    main()

Javascript

// Javascript program to implement Atbash Cipher

// This script uses objects to lookup various alphabets
let lookup_table = {
'A': 'Z', 'B': 'Y', 'C': 'X', 'D': 'W', 'E': 'V',
'F': 'U', 'G': 'T', 'H': 'S', 'I': 'R', 'J': 'Q',
'K': 'P', 'L': 'O', 'M': 'N', 'N': 'M', 'O': 'L',
'P': 'K', 'Q': 'J', 'R': 'I', 'S': 'H', 'T': 'G',
'U': 'F', 'V': 'E', 'W': 'D', 'X': 'C', 'Y': 'B', 'Z': 'A'
};

function atbash(message) {
  let cipher = '';
  for (let letter of message) {
    // checks for space
    if (letter !== ' ') {
      // adds the corresponding letter from the lookup_table
      cipher += lookup_table[letter];
    } else {
        // adds space
        cipher += ' ';
    }
  }
  return cipher;
}

// Driver function to run the program
function main() {
  // encrypt the given message
  let message = 'GEEKS FOR GEEKS';
  console.log(atbash(message.toUpperCase()));

  // decrypt the given message
  message = 'TVVPH ULI TVVPH';
  console.log(atbash(message.toUpperCase()));
}

// Executes the main function
main();



// This code is contribued by adityashatmfh

Output

TVVPH ULI TVVPH
GEEKS FOR GEEKS

Advantages : Since its just an affine cipher with both a = 25 = b we don’t need to write separate functions for encryption and decryption. We can re-use the same function for both purposes. 

Analysis : It has one constant key it is the easiest cipher to break and provides almost no security. Anyone can assume that it is atbash and decrypt the message by reversing the letters. 

This article is contributed by Palash Nigam . If you like GeeksforGeeks and would like to contribute, you can also write an article using write.geeksforgeeks.org or mail your article to review-team@geeksforgeeks.org. See your article appearing on the GeeksforGeeks main page and help other Geeks.