Notation: how to read algorithms

Every algorithm is a list of face turns. Learn these letters once and you can read any algorithm on these pages (or on jperm.net).

Try it yourself The 6 faces ' and 2 Middle slices Wide moves Rotations Brackets & triggers Finger tricks

Try it yourself

Click a move, or type an algorithm and press Play. Drag the cube to look around.

White on top (scrambling orientation)

The 6 faces

Hold the cube with one face pointing at you. That's the Front. The others are named from your point of view, not by color:

Letter	Face	In this guide
`U`	Up (top)	yellow
`D`	Down (bottom)	white (the cross)
`F`	Front (facing you)	green
`B`	Back	blue
`R`	Right	orange
`L`	Left	red

A letter on its own means: turn that face 90° clockwise, as if you were looking straight at that face. That's why R moves the front stickers up ("right side up", as J Perm says), while L moves them down. Same with U (front stickers go left) and D (front stickers go right).

Prime (') and 2

R' ("R prime") is counter-clockwise, the opposite of R. "Right side down".
R2 is a half turn (180°). Direction doesn't matter for the result. Sometimes written R2', which only hints at which way is easier to flick.

Middle slices: M, E, S

These turn only the middle layer. Each one follows a face:

M (Middle, between L and R) turns like L, so the front goes down. M' goes up. J Perm admits this "is a little weird to think about".
E (Equator, between U and D) turns like D.
S (Standing, between F and B) turns like F.

Wide (double-layer) moves

A lowercase letter turns that face plus the middle layer next to it. r is the same as R + M'. It's also written Rw. In J Perm's OLL list, l is a lowercase L ("not capital i"), the two left layers.

Whole-cube rotations: x, y, z

These turn the whole cube in your hands. Nothing on the cube changes relative to itself.

x: like R (tilt the top away from you). J Perm: "x means face the bottom".
y: like U (spin so the right side comes to the front).
z: like F.

Rotations are slow in a real solve. J Perm's advice is to avoid them in the cross and F2L whenever you can. They appear in a few algorithms where they make the finger tricks easier.

Brackets, repeats and "triggers"

Brackets like (R U R' U') don't change anything. "They are for grouping moves together to help you memorize."
A number after brackets means repeat: F (R U R' U')3 F' does the four moves three times.
Triggers are short sequences that show up everywhere. Learn them as single motions:

Finger tricks for each move

From J Perm's finger tricks tutorial. The basic rule: hold the cube with both thumbs on the front ("home grip"), turn R and L with your wrists, and everything else with your fingers.

Move	How
`R` `L`	Whole wrist. Don't try fancy flicks for these.
`U`	Right index finger pushes the top layer.
`U'`	Left index finger.
`U2`	Double flick: index finger then middle finger of the same hand. Practice it with both hands.
`F` `F'`	Regrip and do it like a U move, or push with a thumb (right thumb pulls F', left thumb pushes F up from below). Pick whichever fits the algorithm.
`D` `D'`	Ring finger of either hand. When your thumb isn't on the front, use the other hand's ring finger "pushing backwards".
`D2`	Double flick with ring + pinky (J Perm prefers ring then pinky).
`B`	Works like U or like D, depending on where your hand already is.
`M'`	Right ring finger pushes the middle layer up from the back.
`M`	Middle finger, from the back. Rare, so only learn it if your algorithms use it.
`M2`	Ring finger then middle finger (like a U2 double flick, but on the middle layer).