Notation · how to read algorithms

Face turns

Each letter is one face of the cube. A plain letter means turn that face 90° clockwise — clockwise as if you were looking straight at that face.

• RRight face
• LLeft face
• UUp (top) face
• DDown (bottom) face
• FFront face — the one facing you
• BBack face

Primes and doubles

An apostrophe (read “prime”) reverses the turn to counter-clockwise. A 2 means turn the face twice (180°) — direction doesn’t matter.

• R'Right face counter-clockwise
• U'Top face counter-clockwise
• R2Right face 180°
• U2Top face 180°

Wide moves

A lowercase letter (or a w, like Rw) turns the face together with the middle layer next to it — two layers at once.

• rRight two layers (same as Rw)
• uTop two layers (same as Uw)
• fFront two layers (same as Fw)

Slice moves

Slice moves turn only a middle layer. M follows L, E follows D, and S follows F — handy for remembering which way they go.

• MMiddle layer between L and R, turned like L
• EEquator layer between U and D, turned like D
• SStanding layer between F and B, turned like F

Cube rotations

Rotations turn the whole cube in your hands — no layers move relative to each other. x follows R, y follows U, and z follows F.

• xWhole cube, turned like R
• yWhole cube, turned like U
• zWhole cube, turned like F

Reading a whole algorithm

• 
  R U R' U'

  The “sexy move” — the most common trigger in CFOP

• 
  R' F R F'

  The “sledgehammer” — shows up in many OLLs

• 
  R U R'

  Insert a pair — the basic F2L trigger