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Base-32 Crockford

Tool to decode / encode with the Crockford Base-32. Crockford's Base32 is a variant of base 32 created by Douglas Crockford improving use by humans.

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Base-32 Crockford -

Tag(s) : Character Encoding

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Base-32 Crockford

Crockford Base-32 Decoder

 









See also: Base32Z-Base-32

Crockford base-32 Encoder

 





See also: Base32Base64 Coding

Answers to Questions (FAQ)

What is the Crockford Base-32? (Definition)

The base-32 designed by Douglas Crockford is a variant of the base 32 (standard RFC 3548) willing to optimize the writing and reading by human and adding a checksum.

The Crockford base-32 uses 32 characters' 0123456789ABCDEFGHJKMNPQRSTVWXYZ 'ie the 36 alphanumeric characters excluding I,L,O to prevent confusion with digits and the letter' U 'which avoids unwanted puns (U=You).

Crockford optionally offers a modulo 37 checksum with 5 other characters: *~$=U

How to encrypt using Crockford Base-32 cipher?

The plain message is treated as a binary string and divided into 5-bit blocks (completed if necessary by 0).

Example: base is encoded in ASCII (8-bit) 01100010 01100001 01110011 01100101, the cutout gives the blocks 01100,01001,10000,10111,00110,11001,01000 (with three 0 added at the end)

Each block of 5 bits is encoded via the Crockford alphabet by its corresponding character:

000000000011000102000113
001004001015001106001117
01000801001901010A01011B
01100C01101D01110E01111F
10000G10001H10010J10011K
10100M10101N10110P10111Q
11000R11001S11010T11011V
11100W11101X11110Y11111Z

Example: The coded message is C9GQ6S8

How to calculate the checksum character?

The original binary message is encoded as a (very large) integer whose modulo value 37 is calculated (37 is the smallest next prime number following 32).

Example: base encoded in binary 01100010011000010111001101100101 (base 2) corresponds to 1650553701 (in decimal) and 1650553701 mod 37 = 18 which is coded 18=J so the control character is' J'

Example: The message coded with the control character is C9GQ6S8J

How to decrypt using Crockford Base-32?

Crockford base-32 decryption starts with a conversion of characters into binary form via the lookup table

000000100001200010300011
400100500101600110700111
801000901001A01010B01011
C01100D01101E01110F01111
G10000H10001J10010K10011
M10100N10101P10110Q10111
R11000S11001T11010V11011
W11100X11101Y11110Z11111

Example: The message 6CS0 corresponds to 00110,01100,11001,00000

The resulting binary string is then interpreted (depending on the encoding or format used)

Example: 00110011,00110010,0000 is the ASCII code of the string 32

How to recognize Crockford Base-32 ciphertext?

The message is composed of uppercase alphanumeric characters except I, L, O. It is also possible to find the characters *~$=U at the end of the coding data and sometimes the dash/hyphen - is used to promote reading.

Originally Base 32 was created to express large numbers, such as public encryption keys.

More infos here

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