Rubik’s Cube Notation Explained

Rubik’s Cube notation is a set of letters that describe turns: R, L, U, D, F and B turn the right, left, up, down, front and back faces clockwise; an apostrophe (R', “R prime”) means counter‑clockwise; a 2 means a half turn. Lowercase or w means two layers, M, E, S are middle slices, and x, y, z rotate the whole cube. That’s all of it — the rest of this page shows each one in detail.

Face turns

Hold the cube with one face toward you. That’s the front. The six faces are named from your point of view:

The trick: “clockwise” is always judged as if you were looking directly at that face. That’s why R and L move in opposite directions from your point of view, even though both are clockwise.

Prime and double moves

• Prime (') reverses the direction: R' is a counter‑clockwise turn of the right face — the front of the right face moves down.
• 2 means turn it twice (180°): U2. Direction doesn’t matter for a half turn, though some speedcubers write U2' to show which way their fingers move.

So R U R' U' reads: right up, top left, right down, top right. Cubers call this four‑move sequence the “sexy move”, and it’s the building block of many algorithms.

Wide moves (two layers)

A lowercase letter — or a capital with a w — turns the face and the middle layer next to it together:

• r or Rw — the right two layers, in the same direction as R.
• f or Fw — the front two layers, in the same direction as F.
• u, d, l, b follow the same rule.

On bigger cubes a number in front sets the depth: 3Rw turns the outer three layers, and 2R turns only the second layer.

Slice moves (M, E, S)

Slice moves turn just a middle layer:

• M (middle) — the layer between L and R, turning in the same direction as L.
• E (equator) — the layer between U and D, turning like D.
• S (standing) — the layer between F and B, turning like F.

M moves show up often in last-layer algorithms. The H‑perm, for example, is M2 U M2 U2 M2 U M2.

Cube rotations (x, y, z)

Rotations turn the whole cube in your hands without changing the puzzle:

• x — rotate the whole cube like R (the front face goes to the top).
• y — rotate the whole cube like U (the front face goes to the left).
• z — rotate the whole cube like F (the top face goes to the right).

x', y2 and so on work like normal moves. When an algorithm begins with y or y', it just means “turn the cube to face a different side before you start”.

Reading an algorithm: a worked example

Take the move sequence used to build the yellow cross in the beginner method:

1. F — turn the front face clockwise.
2. R — turn the right face clockwise (front of it goes up).
3. U — turn the top clockwise (front of it goes left).
4. R' — right face counter‑clockwise.
5. U' — top counter‑clockwise.
6. F' — front face counter‑clockwise.

Notice the shape: F … F' wraps around R U R' U'. Spotting patterns like this makes algorithms far easier to remember than learning letters one by one.

Common mistakes

• Turning B and D the wrong way. Imagine looking at the back or bottom face directly. B from your point of view moves the top of the cube to the left.
• Changing your grip mid‑algorithm. Keep the same face toward you for the whole sequence unless you see an x, y or z.
• Mixing up r and R. Lowercase means two layers.
• Forgetting the AUF. Many algorithm sheets assume you’ll turn the top (U) at the end to line it up — called “adjust U face”.

Scrambles and other notation you’ll see

Official scrambles from the World Cube Association use the same letters, so you can apply a scramble written as D2 F' R2 U straight from a timer app. Algorithm sheets sometimes add brackets — (R U R' U') — to group moves into finger-trick chunks; the brackets don’t change the moves.

Now that you can read moves, you’re ready for F2L, OLL and PLL.