Rubik's Cube Notation
There are a bunch of notations for the Rubik's Cube going around. The speedcubing community seems to be standardizing, but I would like to present my own notation, which is a small variation of the existing notation. I think that my notation is more logical and easy to learn than the existing notation (see Dan Harris's site, for example).
I'll start with a solved cube, and, for each move, I'll show you what it does. This is a solved cube.
| Move | Image |
|---|---|
| I (not used) |  |
Capital letters mean moves of the outer layer. A letter without modifications means to turn the layer 90° clockwise; a letter with a ' means to turn the layer 90° counterclockwise; and a letter with a ² or 2 means to turn the layer 180°.
| Move | Image | Move | Image | Move | Image |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| R |  |
R' |  |
R² |  |
| L |  |
L' |  |
L² |  |
| F |  |
F' |  |
F² |  |
| B |  |
B' |  |
B² |  |
| U |  |
U' |  |
U² |  |
| D |  |
D' |  |
D² |  |
Lowercase letters mean to turn the outermost two layers. Again, we use ' and either ² or 2 to change the direction of the turn. These lowercase letters are more useful on larger cubes than on the 3x3x3.
From now on, I'll only show the clockwise turn.
| Move | Image | Move | Image | Move | Image |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| r |  |
f |  |
u |  |
| l |  |
b |  |
d |  |
For any other move, I use a subscript. When I write R2, I mean to turn only the 2nd layer on the R side clockwise. Note that R2', for example, is equivalent to L2 on the 3x3x3. As with the lowercase moves, these are much more useful on larger cubes. If we want to turn more than one side in one move, we can say something like R124 (which turns layers 1, 2, and 4 on the R side).
| Move | Image | Move | Image | Move | Image |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| R2 |  |
F2 |  |
U2 |  |
| L2 |  |
B2 |  |
D2 |  |
When we want to change the position of the cube, we use moves like tR. This signifies a turn of the entire cube around the R face.
| Move | Image | Move | Image | Move | Image |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| tR |  |
tF |  |
tU |  |
| tL |  |
tB |  |
tD |  |
Finally, we have move sequences. A move sequence, or an algorithm, is a set of moves separated by spaces (although some people prefer not to include the spaces...). Here are some of the shortcuts used when writing move sequences. I tend not to use the shortcuts on the pattern pages, to emphasize the number of moves, but on the algorithm pages these will be common.
Parentheses set aside a group of moves. Putting a ' after a parenthesis denotes its inverse - this is explained in the commutator section. Putting a *N or a N after a parenthesis means to do what's inside N times.
| Move | Expansion |
|---|---|
| (R U) (R' U) (R U² R') | R U R' U R U² R' |
| F (R U)*3 F' | F R U R U R U F' |
| (R U)' | U' R' |
The commutator notation is more advanced; it is the format for writing commutators. Read the stuff at that link, and then this notation will make much more sense to you.
| Move | Expansion |
|---|---|
| [R u R', U] | (R u R') (U) (R u R')' (U)' |
| [L F: U] | (L F) (U) (L F)' |
| [L: R' D R, U'] | (L) (R' D R) (U') (R' D R)' (U')' (L)' |