Wubihua method

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The Wubihua method (五笔画) is a Chinese input method for writing text on a computer. It is based on the stroke order of a word, and can be input using only a numerical keypad. Although it is possible to input Traditional Chinese characters with this method, this method is often associated with Simplified Chinese characters.

Each of the five keys from 1 to 5 are assigned a certain type of stroke (resembling the Eight Principles of Yong): 1 for horizontal strokes (一), 2 for vertical strokes (丨), 3 for downwards right-to-left strokes (丿), 4 for dot strokes or downwards left-to-right strokes (丶), and 5 for all other strokes. To input any character, simply press the keys corresponding to the first four strokes of a character and the key corresponding to the last stroke of a character. For characters four strokes or less, press 0 after the last stroke.

Wubihua is one of the easiest to learn methods, but it tends to be vague (a Wubihua code will normally match tens or hundreds of characters), and each character has a unique code (thus, characters whose stroke order are frequently transposed due to a person's writing style cannot easily be found).