Rubik's cube notation for beginners: letters and turns

Rubik's cube notation for beginners comes down to six letters and three small marks. Once you can read them, any written move list, from a solving guide or a competition scramble, turns into turns your hands can make. This guide covers the face letters, what the prime and the 2 mean, the wide and middle-layer turns, and how to turn the whole cube, then walks through one short sequence move by move.

What cube notation is for

Cube notation is a short way to write down a list of turns. Wikipedia's article on the cube says many 3 by 3 cube fans use a notation developed by David Singmaster, called Singmaster notation or simply cube notation. Its letters name sides by where they are, not by colour. So the same move list works whichever colour you hold on top.

The World Cube Association uses the same letters in its regulations. Article 12 sets out the notation, and at a competition a scrambler applies scramble sequences written this way to mix each puzzle.

The six face letters

Hold the cube with one face pointing at you. That face is your front, and every other letter is named from it:

• F (Front): the side facing you.
• B (Back): the side facing away.
• U (Up): the top.
• D (Down): the bottom.
• L (Left): the side on your left.
• R (Right): the side on your right.

The six face letters, and what the marks after a letter mean.

Keep the same front for the whole sequence. If you turn the cube in your hands halfway through, every letter after that points at a different side.

Clockwise, prime and 2

A letter on its own means a quarter turn of that face, clockwise. The key detail is which way clockwise is: as you look straight at that face. For R, picture looking at the right side of the cube. For D, picture looking up at the bottom.

• R: turn the right face a quarter turn clockwise.
• R′ (said "R prime", often typed R'): a quarter turn the other way.
• R2: a half turn. Two quarter turns, and the direction does not matter.

The World Cube Association lists the same three forms for all six faces: F, B, R, L, U and D, then F′ to D′, then F2 to D2.

Wide turns, middle layers and whole-cube turns

Three more kinds of move show up as you read further:

• Wide turns. Rw turns the right face and the middle layer next to it together. Some guides write it as a lowercase r; Wikipedia notes the two mean the same move.
• Middle layers. An extension many guides use adds M, E and S. M is the layer between L and R and turns the same way as L. E is between U and D and turns like D. S is between F and B and turns like F.
• Whole-cube turns. x, y and z turn the entire cube in your hands, the same way as R, U and F. They change which side faces you or which side is on top, and move no layer against another.

How moves are counted depends on the rule. In the World Cube Association's outer block turn metric, a face turn or a wide turn counts as one move, and a whole-cube turn counts as zero. In its execution turn metric, a whole-cube turn counts as one move too.

Rubik's cube notation for beginners: a worked example

Here is a short sequence you will meet in many guides: R U R′ U′. Hold the cube with any face toward you and do it slowly, saying each move out loud.

1. R. Turn the right face a quarter turn, clockwise as seen from the right. The column of squares on the right of your front face moves up, onto the top.
2. U. Turn the top face a quarter turn, clockwise as seen from above. The top row of your front face moves to the left.
3. R′. Turn the right face back the other way. The right column of your front face moves down.
4. U′. Turn the top face back the other way. The top row of your front face moves to the right.

Two checks help while you learn. First, a quarter turn done four times brings that face back to where it started; Wikipedia gives R as the example. A half turn done twice does the same. Second, read each prime as the undo of the same letter: R then R′ leaves the cube as it was.

The same moves on a 3D 2048 cube

3D 2048 is the 2048 number puzzle on a cube like a Rubik's cube. It is a number puzzle, not a way to practise solving, but its moves are the same kinds of turn, and its own script file names the six faces with the same letters: F, R, B, L, U and D, labelled Front, Right, Back, Left, Top and Bottom.

• A twist of a row. Dragging a row on the right face sideways turns one horizontal layer a quarter turn, the kind notation writes as U, E or D.
• A twist of a column. Dragging a column on the top face turns one vertical layer, the kind written R, M or L.
• A turn of the whole cube. Dragging the space around the cube, or pressing Shift and an arrow key, turns everything, the kind of turn notation writes as x, y or z.

The counting matches too. In our test game, at move 31 with a Score of 148, we pressed Shift and Left. The whole cube turned to show an empty face, and Moves still read 31. Just as a whole-cube turn counts zero in the outer block turn metric, the game's help says: "Turning is free."

After a whole-cube turn: a new front face, and Moves still reads 31.

Our post on how a Rubik's cube turns explains the layers behind these letters in more detail.

Frequently asked questions

What does a prime mean in cube notation?

A prime after a letter, as in R′, means a quarter turn anticlockwise, as you look at that face. A letter with no mark means clockwise.

What is the difference between r and Rw?

None on a 3 by 3 cube: both turn the right face and the middle layer next to it. Rw is the form the World Cube Association uses.

What does R2 mean?

Turn the right face twice, a half turn. Clockwise or anticlockwise gives the same result.

Do whole-cube turns count as moves?

It depends on the metric. The World Cube Association's outer block turn metric counts x, y and z as zero moves, and its execution turn metric counts them as one.

Get started

Write R U R′ U′ on a note, hold any cube, and read it move by move until you do not need the note. Then try the same kinds of turn on a cube of numbers: how to play 3D 2048 shows the twist and the turn.

Play 3D 2048: it is free and plays in your browser on a computer or a phone.