Cube notation, explained

Every cube guide writes moves the same way. Learn these few letters once and you can follow any algorithm.

The six faces

Hold the cube with one face pointing at you. Each letter names a face, and a letter alone means turn that face a quarter turn clockwise, as if you were looking straight at that face.

Letter	Face	Clockwise means
R	Right	The right face moves away from you, toward the top
L	Left	The left face moves toward you, from the top
U	Up (top)	The top layer turns to the left, seen from the front
D	Down (bottom)	The bottom layer turns to the right, seen from the front
F	Front	The face toward you turns clockwise
B	Back	The back face turns clockwise as seen from behind

Prime and double moves

An apostrophe means counterclockwise, said "prime": R' is the right face turned back toward you.
A 2 means a half turn, in either direction: U2 turns the top layer twice.
Moves are read left to right. R U R' U' means: right up, top left, right down, top right.

Wide moves, slices and rotations

Wide moves turn two layers at once. They are written in lowercase (r) or with a w (Rw).
Slice moves turn a middle layer: M follows L, E follows D, S follows F.
Rotations turn the whole cube in your hands: x follows R, y follows U, z follows F. Nothing on the cube changes, only how you hold it.

Practise

Try R U R' U' six times in a row on a solved cube: it comes back to solved. This short sequence is the most used move in the beginner method, so it is worth learning by feel.

Next: solve the 3x3 with the beginner method.

Let Turnsmith show you, move by move

Copy your cube's colours and follow every turn on a 3D cube that moves like the one in your hands. Lessons, a competition timer and patterns. Works offline, on iPhone and iPad.

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