Rubik’s Cube Notation Explained

Notation is a short way to write down cube moves. Once you can read it, any guide, algorithm or scramble becomes easy to follow.

The six faces

Each letter is the first letter of a face name: U is Up, D is Down, L is Left, R is Right, F is Front and B is Back. A letter on its own means: turn that face a quarter turn clockwise.

The six faces. Up (U), Front (F) and Right (R) are visible; Down (D), Left (L) and Back (B) are on the other side.

The letters describe positions, not colours. Whichever face is currently on top is U, whatever its colour is. The examples on this site use one fixed orientation, the same as in the Cuby simulator: yellow centre on top, white at the bottom, blue in front and red on the right (so orange is on the left and green at the back).

Clockwise, prime and double turns

R: a quarter turn of the right face, clockwise.
R′ (say “R prime”): a quarter turn in the opposite direction, counter-clockwise.
R2: a half turn (180°). Clockwise or counter-clockwise gives the same result.

Uclockwise

U′counter-clockwise

U2half turn (180°)

Turn directions, shown on the U face seen from above: clockwise, counter-clockwise and a half turn.

Clockwise always means clockwise when you look straight at that face from outside the cube. This is why the directions can feel unusual at first. With the orientation above:

U moves the front row of stickers to the left.
D moves the front row to the right.
R moves the front column up, towards the top.
L moves the front column down.
F and B are clockwise as you look at the front or at the back face.

Reading a sequence

Moves are read from left to right and performed one after another. Take R U R′ U′:

R: turn the right face clockwise.
U: turn the top face clockwise.
R′: turn the right face counter-clockwise.
U′: turn the top face counter-clockwise.

A longer line such as F2 R U R′ U′ is read the same way: a half turn of the front face, then the four moves above.

Notation in the Cuby simulator

On a keyboard, press U, D, R, L, F or B to turn that face; hold Shift to turn it counter-clockwise (prime). There is no separate key for a double turn: do the move twice. On a phone, use the on-screen face keys and the counter-clockwise toggle under the cube.

Common mistakes

Judging the direction from the wrong side. Turning D, look at the bottom face from below, not from above.
Treating a letter as a colour. R means the right face, even if it is not red.
Mixing up R′ and R2. The prime is a quarter turn back; the 2 is a half turn.
Starting a sequence from a different orientation than the guide says.