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Rail fence cipher

Write the message in a zigzag across a few rails, then read each rail in turn. No letter changes, only its place.

How many rows the zigzag runs across. Two or more.

Result

The link opens a page that reads it. Without the key, your friend has to crack it. The message travels after the # in the link, which a browser never sends to our server.

Where it comes from

Write the message in a zigzag across a few rails, then read each rail in turn. No letter changes, they only move, which makes it a transposition rather than a substitution.

A message worth knowing: We are discovered. The classic rail fence example: flee at once.

Learn it by heart

This is the cipher desk from Covert Mail, our free app for learning codes. The app teaches Rail fence a few characters at a time, plans practice around the ones you miss, and keeps an archive of famous real messages to unlock. It is coming soon to the App Store and Google Play.

Coming soon to the App Store and Google Play

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