NAME

Crypt::Rot13 v0.6 - a simple, reversible encryption

SYNOPSIS

  use Crypt::Rot13;

  my $rot13 = new Crypt::Rot13;
  $rot13->charge ("The quick brown fox jumped over the lazy dog.");
  print $rot13->rot13 (), "\n";
  print $rot13->rot13 (245.333), "\n";
  print $rot13->peek (), "\n";

  open (F, "/etc/passwd") or die "$!";
  $rot13->charge (<F>);
  close (F) or die "$!";
  print $rot13->rot13 (-13);

  while (<STDIN>) {
    $rot13->charge ($_);
    print $rot13->rot13 ();
  }

  $rot13->charge ('a' .. 'z');
  foreach (0 .. 26) {
    print $rot13->rot13 ($_), "\n";
  }

DESCRIPTION

rot13 is a simple encryption in which ASCII letters are rotated 13 places (see below). This module provides an array object with methods to encrypt its string elements by rotating ASCII letters n places down the alphabet.

Think of it this way: all of the letters of the alphabet are arranged in a circle like the numbers of a clock. Also like a clock, you have a hand pointing at one of the letters: a. Crypt::Rot13 turns the hand clockwise n times through 'b', 'c', 'd', etc, and back again to 'a', 26 turns later.

Crypt::Rot13 turns this hand for every letter of every string it contains a given number of times, the default of which is 13, or exactly half the number of letters in the alphabet.

PUBLIC METHODS

• Crypt::Rot13->new (@arguments)

  This creates a Crypt::Rot13 object, which is a blessed array reference. Any arguments given to new define the array, which is defaultly empty.

• Crypt::Rot13->charge (@arguments)

  Any arguments given to charge define the array. If no arguments are passed, the Crypt::Rot13 array will be empty. The arguments can be non-strings; see the following example.

    my $rot13 = Crypt::Rot13->new ({'foo' => 'bar'}, 111);
    print $rot13->peek (), "\n", $rot13->rot13 (), "\n";

• Crypt::Rot13->peek ()

  This dereferences and returns the Crypt::Rot13 object.

(In case you are wondering, the strange method names of peek and charge are derived from my original conception of Crypt::Rot13 as a magical device.)

• Crypt;:Rot13->rot13 ($degree)

  Rotates ASCII alphabetical characters of each element of the array degree times and returns the changed array without altering the Crypt::Rot13 object. The degree can be negative and a fractional part is ignored (to be precise, chr and % ignore it).

  Degrees effectively equal to 13 are optimized to a tr///. Degrees effectively equal to 0 are optimized into a peek.

  A degree $d is "effectively equal" to 13 if $d % 26 == 13.

LICENSE

Copyright (C) 1999-2000 Julian Fondren

This program is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify it under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by the Free Software Foundation; either version 2 of the License, or (at your option) any later version.

This program is distributed in the hope that it will be useful, but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. See the GNU General Public License for more details.

You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License along with this program; if not, write to the Free Software Foundation, Inc., 59 Temple Place, Suite 330, Boston, MA 02111-1307 USA

BUGS

The algorithm of rot13 isn't very easy to understand.

AUTHOR

Julian Fondren

SEE ALSO

perl(1) rot13(1)