rot13

2 definitions found

rot13 - Free On-line Dictionary of Computing (26 May 2007) :

  rot13
  
     /rot ther'teen/ [Usenet: from "rotate alphabet 13 places"],
     v. The simple Caesar-cypher encryption that replaces each
     English letter with the one 13 places forward or back along
     the alphabet, so that "The butler did it!" becomes "Gur ohgyre
     qvq vg!"  Most Usenet news reading and posting programs
     include a rot13 feature.  It is used to enclose the text in a
     sealed wrapper that the reader must choose to open - e.g. for
     posting things that might offend some readers, or spoilers.
     A major advantage of rot13 over rot(N) for other N is that it
     is self-inverse, so the same code can be used for encoding and
     decoding.
  
     [Jargon File]
  

rot13 - Jargon File (4.4.4, 14 Aug 2003) :

  rot13
   /rot ther'teen/, n.,v.
  
     [Usenet: from `rotate alphabet 13 places'] The simple Caesar-cypher
     encryption that replaces each English letter with the one 13 places
     forward or back along the alphabet, so that "The butler did it!"
     becomes "Gur ohgyre qvq vg!" Most Usenet news reading and posting
     programs include a rot13 feature. It is used to enclose the text in a
     sealed wrapper that the reader must choose to open -- e.g., for
     posting things that might offend some readers, or spoilers. A major
     advantage of rot13 over rot(N) for other N is that it is
  self-inverse,
     so the same code can be used for encoding and decoding. See also
     spoiler space, which has partly displaced rot13 since
  non-Unix-based
     newsreaders became common.