I had a cryptography problem to solve a long time ago where I needed to XOR two messages together to find something. I found that someone had posted hex, decimal, binary, and ASCII conversion handlers, so I added a user interface and some handlers for XORing the items. The code here is pure ugliness but it could be useful (especially if you edit it and add it as part of a library for cryptography or something).
Here’s a wiki for what XOR is: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Xor
set type_list to {"ascii", "decimal", "binary", "hex"}
set fromType1 to (choose from list type_list with prompt "Convert from what?" without multiple selections allowed) as string
set input_query1 to display dialog "Please enter your first input text" & return & "(hit delete first, then tab and enter)" default answer "
" --lots of return spaces to make it easier to read
set nums1 to text returned of input_query1
set fromType2 to {choose from list type_list with prompt "Convert second string from what?" without multiple selections allowed} as string
set input_query2 to display dialog "Please enter your second cipher text string" & return & "(hit delete first, then tab and enter)" default answer "
" --lots of return spaces to make it easier to read
set nums2 to text returned of input_query2
set toType to (choose from list type_list with prompt "Select your final format:" without multiple selections allowed) as string
set the_result1 to my substitute(nums1, fromType1, "binary") --convert to binary
set the_result2 to my substitute(nums2, fromType2, "binary") --convert to binary
set nums3 to my bin_xor(the_result1, the_result2) --xor binary numbers
set nums3 to my replace_chars(nums3, "2", "0")
set nums3 to my replace_chars(nums3, ",", "")
if toType is not "binary" then
set nums3 to my substitute(nums3, "binary", toType)
end if
display dialog "XOR of text 1 and 2:" & return default answer nums3
--------- binary handler
----------------------------------
on bin_xor(nums1, nums2) --handler to xor binary sets!
set num_list to {}
set count1 to number of characters in nums1 --check for string sizes (must match)
set count2 to number of characters in nums2
if count1 < count2 then --adjusts for relative lenghts
set count1 to number of characters in nums2
set count2 to number of characters in nums1
set num_2 to nums2 --number switching for zero addition later
set nums2 to nums1
set nums1 to num_2
set themissing to count1 - count2
end if
set the_missing to count1 - count2
if the_missing ≠0 then --sets second string to equal length by adding zeros
set zero_list to {}
repeat with i from 1 to (the_missing)
set zero to "0"
copy zero to end of zero_list
end repeat
set zero_list to my joinList(zero_list, ",")
set nums2 to nums2 & zero_list
set nums2 to my replace_chars(nums2, ",", "") --drops the commas delimiters
end if
set theCount to 0
repeat with i from 1 to count1
set theCount to theCount + 1
set x to item (theCount) of nums1
set y to item (theCount) of nums2 --follows second string
set nums3 to x + y
copy nums3 to end of num_list
end repeat
set num_list to my joinList(num_list, ",")
return num_list
end bin_xor
to joinList(aList, delimiter)
set retVal to ""
set oldTID to AppleScript's text item delimiters
set AppleScript's text item delimiters to delimiter
set retVal to aList as string
set AppleScript's text item delimiters to oldTID
return retVal
end joinList
on replace_chars(this_text, search_string, replacement_string)
set oldTID to AppleScript's text item delimiters
set AppleScript's text item delimiters to the search_string
set the item_list to every text item of this_text
set AppleScript's text item delimiters to the replacement_string
set this_text to the item_list as string
set AppleScript's text item delimiters to oldTID
return this_text
end replace_chars
--------------------- conversion handlers below for hex, bin, ascii, decimal
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
on substitute(input, fromType, toType)
set input_list to {} as list
set output_list to {} as list
if fromType is "ascii" as string then
repeat with x from 1 to the (length of input)
set theCharacter to the character x of input
set theCharacter to character_number(theCharacter)
set input_list to input_list & theCharacter as list
end repeat
else if fromType is "decimal" as string then
set input to input as number
if input is less than 256 then
set input_list to input_list & (input) as list
else
repeat while input as integer is greater than 1
set input_list to input_list & (input mod 256) as list
set input to ((input / 256) - 0.5) as integer
end repeat
end if
else if fromType is "binary" as string then
set padding to 8 - ((length of input) mod 8)
if padding is equal to 8 then set padding to 0
repeat with x from 1 to padding
set input to "0" & input as string
end repeat
repeat with x from 1 to ((length of input) / 8)
set current_eight to characters ((x - 1) * 8 + 1) thru (x * 8) of input as string
set input_list to input_list & bin2dec(current_eight)
end repeat
else if fromType is "hex" as string then
set padding to 2 - ((length of input) mod 2)
if padding is equal to 2 then set padding to 0
repeat with x from 1 to padding
set input to "0" & input as string
end repeat
repeat with x from 1 to ((length of input) / 2)
set current_pair to characters ((x - 1) * 2 + 1) thru (x * 2) of input as string
set input_list to input_list & hex2dec(current_pair)
end repeat
end if
if toType is "binary" as string then
repeat with x from 1 to (length of input_list)
set output_list to output_list & dec2bin(item x of input_list)
end repeat
else if toType is "ascii" as string then
repeat with x from 1 to (length of input_list)
set output_list to output_list & dec2asc(item x of input_list)
end repeat
else if toType is "hex" as string then
repeat with x from 1 to (length of input_list)
set output_list to output_list & dec2hex(item x of input_list)
end repeat
else if toType is "decimal" as string then
set output_list to input_list
end if
return output_list as string
end substitute
on bin2dec(binary_eight)
set value to 128 * (character 1 of binary_eight) + 64 * (character 2 of binary_eight) + 32 * (character 3 of binary_eight) + 16 * (character 4 of binary_eight) + 8 * (character 5 of binary_eight) + 4 * (character 6 of binary_eight) + 2 * (character 7 of binary_eight) + 1 * (character 8 of binary_eight)
return value
end bin2dec
on hex2dec(hex_pair)
set hex_lookup to {"0", "1", "2", "3", "4", "5", "6", "7", "8", "9", "A", "B", "C", "D", "E", "F"} as list
repeat with x from 1 to 16
if character 1 of hex_pair is equal to item x in hex_lookup then set MSD to (x - 1)
if character 2 of hex_pair is equal to item x in hex_lookup then set LSD to (x - 1)
end repeat
set value to 16 * MSD + 1 * LSD
end hex2dec
on dec2bin(value)
return number_in_binary(value) as string
end dec2bin
on dec2hex(value)
set hex_lookup to {"0", "1", "2", "3", "4", "5", "6", "7", "8", "9", "A", "B", "C", "D", "E", "F"} as list
set LSD to value mod 16
set MSD to ((value / 16) - 0.5) as integer -- the -0.5 ensures the cast to int is a floor
set LSD to item (LSD + 1) of hex_lookup
set MSD to item (MSD + 1) of hex_lookup
return (MSD & LSD) as string
end dec2hex
on dec2asc(value)
return number_to_character(value)
end dec2asc
on number_to_character(theNumber)
if theNumber is less than 32 then
return " "
else
return the (ASCII character of theNumber) as string
end if
end number_to_character
on character_number(theCharacter)
return the (ASCII number of theCharacter) as string
end character_number
on number_in_binary(theNumber)
set theString to ""
set currnumber to 128
repeat while currnumber ≥ 1
if theNumber - currnumber ≥ 0 then
set theNumber to theNumber - currnumber
set theString to theString & 1
else
set theString to theString & 0
end if
set currnumber to currnumber / 2
end repeat
return theString
end number_in_binary
If you never try you never accomplish!
