ciphertext = "PPKAMJELQHPIAHLWYPKDDNBGPMJELQHPIAHZWUYJH" blocks = ["", "", ""] output = "" for i in range(len(ciphertext)): if i % 3 == 0: output += "\\textcolor{red}{" + ciphertext[i] + "}" elif i % 3 == 1: output += "\\textcolor{blue}{" + ciphertext[i] + "}" elif i % 3 == 2: output += "\\textcolor{darkgreen}{" + ciphertext[i] + "}" blocks[i%3] += ciphertext[i] print(output) print(blocks)