Basic Cube Notation

This is a description of notation for the Rubik's Cube and similar puzzles.

Faces
There are 6 faces on a cube. Each face is represented by a letter, according to where it is located. These faces
make the most sense when you hold the cube with one face parallel to the ground and one face facing you, but
algorithm pages will often display the cube so that you can see the front, right, and top faces. The six faces are:

F (Front) - the side facing you.

U (Up) - the side facing upwards.

R (Right) - the side facing to the right.

B (Back) - the side facing away from you.

L (Left) - the side facing to the left.

D (Down) - the side facing downwards.

Turns
A turn of one layer of one of the six faces of the cube is written by adding a suffix to the face's name. There are
three possible turns that can be applied to a face, and all moves should be applied as if you were looking at the
face straight-on. Using the U face as an example, the following are possible turns:

U - A 90-degree clockwise turn of the U face.

U' - A 90-degree counterclockwise turn of the U face.

U2 - A 180-degree turn (either clockwise or counterclockwise) of the U face.

Note that for U2, some people will write a clockwise 180-degree turn as U2 and a counterclockwise 180-degree
turn as U2'. This is only necessary for puzzles such as the Megaminx and when describing fingertricks.

Cube Rotations

Cube rotations involve turning the entire cube. Any position can be solved without these moves, but you will
often see them in algorithms. The possible cube rotations, which can also be modified with ' or 2 like a face
turn, are:

x or [r] - a rotation of the entire cube as if doing an R turn.

 y or [u] - a rotation of the entire cube as if doing a U turn.

z or [f] - a rotation of the entire cube as if doing an F turn.

Slice Turns

On the 3x3x3, slice turns are popular in algorithms, although they are never needed in scrambling. These
moves are defined in a very inconsistent way, so watch out. The possible slice moves, which can again be
modified with ' or 2, are:

M - a move of the Middle layer (between R and L), in the same direction as an L turn.

E - a move of the Equatorial layer (between U and D), in the same direction as a D turn.

S - a move of the Standing layer (between F and B), in the same direction as an F turn.
Multiple-Layer Turns

On the 4x4x4 and larger puzzles, single-layer turns are not enough to fully scramble or solve the puzzle. Thus
there are notations to describe turns of multiple layers on the same face. A double-layer turn, for instance,
might include both the outside layer and the parallel layer touching it.

Double-layer turns are also popular in algorithms for the 3x3x3. There are two main ways to write this, using
the U face as an example:

Uw - this notation is widely used by Japanese cubers and was recently adopted by the WCA.

u - this notation is often preferred by English-speaking cubers, and originally appeared for writing down

4x4x4 and 5x5x5 moves.

For turns of more than two layers, it is impossible to use single letters to write down turns, but a popular
proposal is to use numbers to show the number of layers that are being turned. There are several ways to write
these turns, using the U face as an example and 3 as an example number of layers, but the best is
either 3U or 3u, because putting the number after the letter can cause confusion when there is a half turn
(giving it the suffix 2).

Finger Trick Notation