Spiral reading
Place text into a spiral grid.
Paste text, choose an automatic grid format, then view the result as text or as a grid according to the starting corner and spiral direction.
Source text
Settings
Format
Start
Direction
Empty cells
Result
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Quick explanation
The tool uses your text as entered, with no automatic cleaning. Choose a suggested format, a starting corner and a clockwise or counterclockwise direction to generate a spiral grid.
Try this too
Need to test more grid readings?
Use the grid reader to compare rows, columns, snake paths and spiral paths on the same text.
Additional information
How to use spiral reading
Paste your source text, then choose one of the automatically suggested grid formats. The tool places characters along a spiral path starting from the selected corner, clockwise or counterclockwise.
Text kept as entered
The tool does not clean the text: spaces, digits, punctuation and letter case stay in the grid. If you need a cleaner message first, use the puzzle cleaner.
Automatic formats
Grid dimensions are suggested from the number of characters. The goal is to get a compact grid without unnecessary manual settings.
Spiral path
The starting point selects the first corner. Clockwise follows the direction of a clock; counterclockwise turns the other way.
What is this tool useful for?
Spiral reading is useful for preparing or testing a hidden message in a grid. It often appears in treasure hunts, puzzle games and riddles when text must be read by turning around the grid instead of using ordinary rows.
| Setting | Effect | Tip |
|---|---|---|
| Start | Chooses the corner where the spiral begins. | Try all four corners when you are searching for a hidden message. |
| Direction | Defines whether the spiral turns clockwise or counterclockwise. | For a puzzle, keep the direction so you can explain the solution later. |
| Empty cells | Controls cells left unused when the grid has more cells than the text. | Keep them for visual inspection, ignore them for a more compact text result. |
Try also
To test several paths in one grid, use the grid reader. To prepare a printable grid, try printable text grid or printable blank grid.
Limits and reuse
AppErgo tools are provided free of charge for practical and informational purposes. Although care is taken in their design, a result may be incomplete, unexpected or incorrect. Before relying on a result for any important use, check it using an appropriate method.
To report a bug in the tool, you can use the dedicated bug report form.
Results produced by AppErgo tools may be copied and reused freely. When publicly reusing a result, a method or an AppErgo page, a link to the relevant page is appreciated.
Unless otherwise stated, AppErgo texts, images, visual elements, scripts, templates and internal components remain the property of AppErgo.
For any other request, you can contact the webmaster.