Basics Rubik's cube notation
Notation
U up, D down, R right, L left, F front and B back. On each little cube the turning layer is white and the arrow shows the direction.
Faces
One letter per face. On its own, a quarter turn clockwise as you look straight at that face; with an apostrophe (') the opposite way; with 2, a half turn.
- U
TOP LAYER · LEFT - U'
TOP LAYER · RIGHT - U2
TOP LAYER · HALF TURN - D
BOTTOM LAYER · RIGHT - D'
BOTTOM LAYER · LEFT - D2
BOTTOM LAYER · HALF TURN - R
RIGHT LAYER · UP - R'
RIGHT LAYER · DOWN - R2
RIGHT LAYER · HALF TURN - L
LEFT LAYER · DOWN - L'
LEFT LAYER · UP - L2
LEFT LAYER · HALF TURN - F
FRONT · CLOCKWISE - F'
FRONT · COUNTER-CLOCKWISE - F2
FRONT · HALF TURN - B
BACK LAYER · CLOCKWISE FROM BEHIND - B'
BACK LAYER · COUNTER-CLOCKWISE FROM BEHIND - B2
BACK LAYER · HALF TURN
Two layers at once
Lower case: the face and the middle layer together (used in OLL).
- r
RIGHT TWO LAYERS · UP - r'
RIGHT TWO LAYERS · DOWN - f
FRONT TWO LAYERS · CLOCKWISE - f'
FRONT TWO LAYERS · COUNTER-CLOCKWISE - l
LEFT TWO LAYERS · DOWN - l'
LEFT TWO LAYERS · UP
Middle layer
M is the layer between R and L and turns like L.
- M
MIDDLE SLICE · DOWN - M'
MIDDLE SLICE · UP - M2
MIDDLE SLICE · HALF TURN
Rotating the whole cube
x turns the whole cube like R; y, like U. It changes nothing on the cube, only how you hold it.
- x
WHOLE CUBE · UP - x'
WHOLE CUBE · DOWN - y
WHOLE CUBE · LEFT - y'
WHOLE CUBE · RIGHT
A trick for R and L
Both move the column in front of you: R goes up, R' down; L goes down, L' up. U and D are similar: U moves the front row to the left and D to the right.