Myszkowski transposition — A columnar transposition whose keyword has repeated letters: columns with equal key letters are read together, row by row, instead of one after another.
Columnar transposition where equal key letters are read together row by row.
A worked example§
Encrypting a sample with the cipher itself, at build time:
MEET ME BY THE OLD CLOCK TOWER AT DAWNKey: TOMATO
produces the ciphertext
THLWAETCODEEYODCTRTNMMBELOKEAWThis example is generated by running the cipher when the page is built, and the round trip is checked, so it always matches what the solver does.
How it is broken§
The interleaving means the ciphertext is no longer a concatenation of whole columns, so the usual segment-boundary assumption fails. The key space is the ordered Bell number of the width — 4,683 at width six, which this solver enumerates exactly.
History and context§
Emile Myszkowski's 1902 answer to the obvious objection that a keyword with repeated letters has no defined column order.
See also§
Columnar transposition · Rail fence · Skip / scytale · Route transposition · AMSCO transposition
Browse every cipher in the Transposition ciphers family, read the history of codebreaking, or return to the wiki main page.
Frequently asked questions§
How is the Myszkowski transposition broken?
The interleaving means the ciphertext is no longer a concatenation of whole columns, so the usual segment-boundary assumption fails. The key space is the ordered Bell number of the width — 4,683 at width six, which this solver enumerates exactly.
What key does the Myszkowski transposition use?
keyword with repeats. The keyspace is unbounded in practice.
How much ciphertext do I need?
At least 24 characters for this solver to attempt it; short messages can be readable and still not be proof.
Can I break a Myszkowski transposition on this page?
Not with the browser build, which targets the common puzzle families. The desktop version searches it: see the Windows app page.