[FIXED] Having issues Decrpyting ciphertext using own alphabet string (python)

Issue

I have it set to ask the user a word to encrpyt which works fine using my own alphabet.

My issue is trying to also get it to return the deciphered text.

So far I have it either returning the encrypted message twice or sending back a different version of the encrypted message.

I have tried using - instead of + in my for char, and it gives me a error which I thought was the correct way to do it.

alphabet = "abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz"
key      = "zjrekydnqoluaxmicvpgtfbhws"


def decryptMessage(ciphertext, key):
    
    plaintext = ""
    for char in ciphertext:
        
        if alphabet.find(char) < +1:
             plaintext += key[alphabet.find(char)]
        else:
                 plaintext += char
    
    
    return plaintext


def encryptMessage(plaintext, key):
   
    ciphertext = ""

    
    for char in plaintext:
       
        if alphabet.find(char) > -1:
            ciphertext += key[alphabet.find(char)]
        else:
            ciphertext += char
    
    
    return ciphertext


message = input("Type a message to encrypt: ")


encrypted = encryptMessage(message, key)


decrypted = decryptMessage(encrypted, key)


print("Plaintext message: " + message)
print("Encrypted message: " + encrypted)
print("Decrypted message: " + decrypted)

Solution

If you want to keep with the theme of your original code:

You need to modify as follows:

alphabet = "abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz"
key      = "zjrekydnqoluaxmicvpgtfbhws"


def decryptMessage(ciphertext, key):
    
    plaintext = ""
    for char in ciphertext:
        
        if key.find(char) > -1:
             plaintext += alphabet[key.find(char)]
        else:
             plaintext += char
    
    return plaintext


def encryptMessage(plaintext, key):
   
    ciphertext = ""
    for char in plaintext:
       
        if alphabet.find(char) > -1:
            ciphertext += key[alphabet.find(char)]
        else:
            ciphertext += char
    
    return ciphertext

message = input("Type a message to encrypt: ")
encrypted = encryptMessage(message, key)
decrypted = decryptMessage(encrypted, key)

print("Plaintext message: " + message)
print("Encrypted message: " + encrypted)
print("Decrypted message: " + decrypted)

Answered By - ScottC