Caesar Cipher Function in Python

Question

I'm trying to create a simple Caesar Cipher function in Python that shifts letters based on input from the user and creates a final, new string at the end. The only problem is that the final cipher text shows only the last shifted character, not an entire string with all the shifted characters.

Here's my code:

plainText = raw_input("What is your plaintext? ")
shift = int(raw_input("What is your shift? "))

def caesar(plainText, shift): 

    for ch in plainText:
        if ch.isalpha():
            stayInAlphabet = ord(ch) + shift 
            if stayInAlphabet > ord('z'):
                stayInAlphabet -= 26
            finalLetter = chr(stayInAlphabet)
        cipherText = ""
        cipherText += finalLetter

    print "Your ciphertext is: ", cipherText

    return cipherText

caesar(plainText, shift)

Answer 1

Why not use the function reverse on the shift input, and and join the plain_text with the shift, and input it as the cipher text:

Plain = int(input("enter a number ")) 
Rev = plain[::-1]
Cipher = " ".join(for cipher_text in Rev) 

Answer 2

plainText = raw_input("What is your plaintext? ")
shift = int(raw_input("What is your shift? "))

def caesar(plainText, shift): 
    for ch in plainText:
        if ch.isalpha():
            stayInAlphabet = ord(ch) + shift 
            if stayInAlphabet > ord('z'):
                stayInAlphabet -= 26
            finalLetter = chr(stayInAlphabet)
        #####HERE YOU RESET CIPHERTEXT IN EACH ITERATION#####
        cipherText = ""
        cipherText += finalLetter

    print "Your ciphertext is: ", cipherText

    return cipherText

caesar(plainText, shift)

As an else to if ch.isalpha() you can put finalLetter=ch.

You should remove the line: cipherText = ""

Cheers.

Answer 3

according to me this answer is useful for you:

def casear(a,key):
str=""
if key>26:
    key%=26
for i in range(0,len(a)):
    if a[i].isalpha():
        b=ord(a[i])
        b+=key
        #if b>90:                   #if upper case letter ppear in your string
        #    c=b-90                 #if upper case letter ppear in your string
        #    str+=chr(64+c)         #if upper case letter ppear in your string
        if b>122:
            c=b-122
            str+=chr(96+c)
        else:
            str+=chr(b)
    else:
        str+=a[i]
print str

a=raw_input()
key=int(input())
casear(a,key)

This function shifts all letter to right according to given key.

Answer 4

The problem is that you set cipherText to empty string at every cycle iteration, the line

cipherText = ""

must be moved before the loop.

Answer 5

key = 3

def wub():
    def choice():
        choice = input("Do you wish to Encrypt of Decrypt?")
        choice = choice.lower()
        if choice == "e" or "encrypt":
            return choice
        elif choice == "d" or "decrypt":
            return choice
        else:
            print("Invalid response, please try again.")
            choice()

    def message():
        user = input("Enter your message: ")
        return user

    def waffle(choice, message, key):
        translated = ""
        if choice == "e" or "encrypt":
            for character in message:
                num = ord(character)
                num += key
                translated += chr(num)

                derek = open('Encrypted.txt', 'w')
                derek.write(translated)
            derek.close()
            return translated
        else:
            for character in message:
                num = ord(character)
                num -= key
                translated += chr(num)
            return translated

    choice = choice() #Runs function for encrypt/decrypt selection. Saves choice made.
    message = message() #Run function for user to enter message. Saves message.
    final = waffle(choice, message, key) #Runs function to translate message, using the choice, message and key variables)
    print("\n Operation complete!")
    print(final)

wub()

Answer 6

I realize that this answer doesn't really answer your question, but I think it's helpful anyway. Here's an alternative way to implementing the caesar cipher with string methods:

def caesar(plaintext, shift):
    alphabet = string.ascii_lowercase
    shifted_alphabet = alphabet[shift:] + alphabet[:shift]
    table = string.maketrans(alphabet, shifted_alphabet)
    return plaintext.translate(table)

In fact, since string methods are implemented in C, we will see an increase in performance with this version. This is what I would consider the 'pythonic' way of doing this.