sub key { $kp= shift; $caesar= shift; #version 2 - this doesn't work - because autoincrement $a++ gets off when the key already exists! # foreach (split(//, $kp),'a'..'z') { # $p2C{( exists $p2C{$_} ? '#' : $_)} = chr(ord('A')+(($a++)+$caesar)%26); # } #version 3 - this doesn't work - why? %p2C = map {( exists $p2C{$_} ? '#' : $_ )=> chr(ord('A')+(($a++)+$caesar)%26) } (split(//, $kp),'a'..'z'); %C2p = map {$p2C{$_} => $_} (keys %p2C); $p2C{' '}=' '; $C2p{' '}=' '; } sub printKeys { my $href = shift; print "\nCT: "; print(($_).' ') foreach (sort keys %{$href}); print "\npt: "; print(($$href{$_}).' ') foreach (sort keys %{$href}); print "\n"; } key ('thequickbrownfoxjumpsoverthelazydogs',10); printKeys(\%p2C); printKeys(\%C2p);