Pigpen Cipher
Pigpen cipher replaces English letters with grid and X symbols; encode text or select symbols to decode with the mapping shown here. Anyone with that mapping can reverse it; it is not a confidentiality tool.
Ready. Choose text input or use the symbol keyboard below.
Select symbols to decode
Start with Clear input, then press symbols in their message order. A dot is part of a symbol. Use Word space between words. This tool does not read uploaded pictures or recognize drawn symbols.
Mapping used by this page
A–I occupy the plain nine-cell grid, read left to right then top to bottom. J–R use the same cells with a dot. The plain X positions are S at the top, T at the left, U at the right and V at the bottom; the dotted X repeats those positions for W, X, Y and Z. Other Pigpen layouts exist; use this chart rather than assuming another chart matches. The IDs G1–G9, D1–D9, X1–X4 and Y1–Y4 are this page’s copyable labels, not a universal Pigpen text standard.
| Letter | Symbol | Copyable ID |
|---|---|---|
| A | G1 | |
| B | G2 | |
| C | G3 | |
| D | G4 | |
| E | G5 | |
| F | G6 | |
| G | G7 | |
| H | G8 | |
| I | G9 | |
| J | D1 | |
| K | D2 | |
| L | D3 | |
| M | D4 | |
| N | D5 | |
| O | D6 | |
| P | D7 | |
| Q | D8 | |
| R | D9 | |
| S | X1 | |
| T | X2 | |
| U | X3 | |
| V | X4 | |
| W | Y1 | |
| X | Y2 | |
| Y | Y3 | |
| Z | Y4 |
Original encode and decode checks
We generated four original input sequences and computed their symbol IDs independently with Python and this page’s JavaScript. All encoded sequences matched. Decoding returned uppercase text with whitespace normalized to single word spaces. The full alphabet sample also checked all letters. Every symbol has a distinct generated SVG.
| Original text | Encoded symbol IDs | Decoded text |
|---|---|---|
| ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ | G1 G2 G3 G4 G5 G6 G7 G8 G9 D1 D2 D3 D4 D5 D6 D7 D8 D9 X1 X2 X3 X4 Y1 Y2 Y3 Y4 | ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ |
| Hello World | G8 G5 D3 D3 D6 / Y1 D6 D9 D3 G4 | HELLO WORLD |
| Meet at gate | D4 G5 G5 X2 / G1 X2 / G7 G1 X2 G5 | MEET AT GATE |
| SOS\nSOS | X1 D6 X1 / X1 D6 X1 | SOS SOS |
To reproduce a row, paste its original text, convert, then press Reverse result. The input newline in the final sample is shown as in the table; it becomes a word boundary. These rows are generated results, not a table copied from another tool.
Input, output and limits
Encode English A–Z or a–z, up to 20,000 Unicode characters in one input. Case is not preserved: decoded letters are uppercase. Whitespace is normalized to single word spaces; leading and trailing whitespace are removed. Digits, punctuation, accented letters and emoji are rejected with a position instead of silently discarded. There is no digit alphabet.
Decode by choosing SVG symbols or pasting their IDs separated by spaces, with / for a word boundary. IDs are case insensitive. The decode limit is 20,000 tokens including word-boundary tokens. Unknown IDs report the token position and produce no partial result. Output includes rendered symbols and copyable IDs when encoding, or text when decoding.
One input per run. No login, registration, uploads, batch mode, saved history or daily counter. Processing stays in your browser.
Is Pigpen secure?
No. It is fixed symbol substitution. Anyone who has the displayed mapping can restore the letters. It is intended for puzzles and learning, not protection of confidential information.
How is it different from the other tools?
Pigpen replaces letters with shapes. Caesar and ROT13 shift letters; Atbash reverses the alphabet; Vigenere uses your repeating key. Cipher Decoder displays those alternatives without identifying or cracking a cipher. It does not process Pigpen pictures.
Related representation walkthrough
This existing video demonstrates hexadecimal input and Base64 output, not Pigpen symbol decoding.
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To use your own alphabet mapping or generate one from a keyword, use the Substitution cipher mapping tool.
For literal A/B five-symbol groups with explicit alphabet versions, use the Bacon cipher A/B tool.
For key-square letter pairs with visible preparation rules, use the Playfair key-square tool.