Some ciphers cannot use every character you type. CipherSteps keeps your original message on screen and shows the version used for the calculation. Checking that text helps explain missing punctuation, merged letters, or a decoded word with an extra X.
What the text labels mean
- Original input is the message you typed.
- Normalized input shows uppercase text and any character conversions you selected, plus characters the method can keep.
- Prepared input is the exact text or letter pairs used by the cipher, after any removals, merges, or added fillers.
- Decoded prepared text is what the cipher can recover. Information removed earlier, such as letter case or punctuation, may be gone.
Choose how to handle accents and ligatures
| Original | Required choice | Result to inspect | Letter count |
|---|---|---|---|
| Café! | Select Convert accented Latin letters | CAFE! | 4 |
| Straße | Select Expand ß, Œ and Æ | STRASSE | 7 |
| œuvre | Select Expand ß, Œ and Æ | OEUVRE | 6 |
| Æ | Select Expand ß, Œ and Æ | AE | 2 |
Turn these options on when they match your puzzle’s rules. They can change both spelling and length: ß becomes SS, Œ becomes OE, and Æ becomes AE. Accent conversion supports the documented Latin letters; it does not convert every writing system into A–Z.
Punctuation preserved by a substitution
HELLO, WORLD!Shift 3; 10 letters; 3 nonletters preservedKHOOR, ZRUOG!Preparation depends on the method
| Method | Preparation to inspect | What decoding cannot infer |
|---|---|---|
| Caesar / Vigenère | Uppercase; preserve nonletters by default | Original lowercase spelling |
| Rail Fence / Columnar / Scytale | A–Z letters only | Removed spaces or punctuation |
| Polybius | A–Z; J becomes I | Whether 24 originally meant I or J |
| Tap Code | K becomes C; retain word separators | Whether 1:3 originally meant C or K |
| Playfair | I/J merge, pair preparation, X or Q fillers | Which filler-like letters were original |
Compare decoding with the prepared text
Playfair prepares BALLOON as BALXLOON to separate the repeated L letters. Decoding returns BALXLOON, which matches that prepared text. The extra X does not mean the cipher failed, but the decoder cannot safely remove it without knowing the original word.
Inspect before converting
Prepare JIG for the fixed Polybius square. What text should be used for the reverse comparison?