Three edges are out of place cycling in one direction. One edge is already solved.
R2U'R'U'RURURU'R
P 1/18 11 moves
CFOP · Step 4
PLL — 21 Algorithms
Complete PLL algorithm reference for the Rubik's Cube. Learn 2-look PLL for beginners or master all 21 algorithms for full one-look PLL.
21 cases — complete reference
The home stretch
OLL already turned the whole top face one solid color. PLL has exactly one job left: slide every last-layer piece into its correct position without touching its orientation. When the last piece clicks home, the cube is solved — provided your F2L stayed intact.
PLL algorithms look long, and that is on purpose. By this stage every piece is already oriented, so an algorithm has the least freedom to move things around: it must cycle the pieces you want while returning every other piece untouched. That politeness is what makes the sequences long — not difficulty.
21 beats 57. Deciding which full step to learn first? PLL is the smaller mountain — only 21 cases against OLL’s 57. Front-load it.
Climb the ladder: 4 looks → 3 looks → 2 looks
You do not need all 57 OLL cases before you start using full PLL. Harris lays out an explicit path from the beginner method to one-look CFOP:
- 4-look (beginner)
Edge cross, then orient corners, then position corners, then position edges — four small algorithm families. This is the beginner last layer.
- 3-look (the bridge)
Learn just the 7 OLL cases where every edge is already flipped to orient the corners in one look, then do full PLL in one look. Cross → 7-case OLL → PLL. This is the rung most worth climbing next.
- 2-look (CFOP)
Full 57-case OLL in one look, then full 21-case PLL in one look. The expert last layer.
Recognition: line up first, then look
Harris’s recognition advice is an action, not a static glance: rotate U to bring as many already-solved pieces home as you can, then read what is left over. Pre-aligning makes the remaining mismatch jump out — and it is the only way to tell mirror cases (Ua vs Ub, Ja vs Jb, the four G-perms) apart reliably.
Headlights → adjacent swap
Two matching corners with a different center color between them (“headlights”) are a solved pair. The case is an adjacent-swap family: T, J, or R.
No headlights → diagonal swap
No headlights anywhere means a diagonal swap — Y, V, or N — or a G/E-perm. Diagonal swaps never show headlights.
See the two you’ll use most
Watch the two most common PLLs run on a real cube. The T-perm is the single most-used case and the backbone of 2-look PLL; the Ua-perm is the classic edge 3-cycle. The top face is already one color — PLL only slides the pieces into place.
T-perm — the adjacent-swap workhorse
Ua-perm — the edge 3-cycle
Learn it by family, not by flashcard
Harris does not present 21 loose pictures — he buckets them into seven bite-size families that share a shape and a feel. Learn one member, internalize the trigger, then derive its mirror. The families are the study plan.
Edge perms (Ua, Ub, H, Z)
All four corners home; only edges cycle. The fastest family — done as M-slice flicks.
M2UM2U2M2UM2Corner perms (Aa, Ab)
All four edges home; a single diagonal corner 3-cycle. Built on the R' U R' D2 trigger.
R-perms (Ra, Rb)
One adjacent corner swap plus an edge 3-cycle. A solved block on one side; the mirror is the other.
J-perms (Ja, Jb)
An adjacent corner pair and adjacent edge pair swap on one face — the most beginner-friendly combined perm.
RUR'F'RUR'U'R'FR2U'R'U'N-perms (Na, Nb)
Two diagonal swaps crossing — the hardest pair. Long by design: two whole columns trade.
G-perms (Ga–Gd)
A 3-corner cycle paired with a 3-edge cycle. Four mirror-confusable cousins, all driven by a wide-U turn plus a re-grip rotation.
The rest (T, F, V, Y)
The high-value standalones — including the T-perm, the most-used PLL of all.
RUR'U'R'FR2U'R'U'RUR'F'All 21 verified cases. Filter by family. Tap a card to copy the algorithm.
Three edges are out of place cycling in the opposite direction from Ua. One edge is already solved.
R'UR'U'R'U'R'URUR2
P 1/18 11 moves
All four edges are out of place. Opposite edges are swapped. The cube has a symmetric pattern from all four sides.
M2UM2U2M2UM2
P 1/72 7 moves
All four edges are out of place. Adjacent edges are swapped in a Z-pattern.
M2UM2UM'U2M2U2M'
P 1/36 9 moves
Three corners cycle in one direction while all edges remain solved.
xR'UR'D2RU'R'D2R2x'
P 1/18 11 moves
Three corners cycle in the opposite direction from Aa while all edges remain solved.
xR2D2RUR'D2RU'Rx'
P 1/18 11 moves
All four corners are out of place in diagonal pairs. All edges are solved.
x'RU'R'DRUR'D'RUR'DRU'R'D'
P 1/36 17 moves
Two adjacent corners need to swap. The front-right and front-left corners are exchanged, plus two edges.
RUR'U'R'FR2U'R'U'RUR'F'
P 1/18 14 moves
Two corners diagonal from each other need to swap along with two edges. No two adjacent pieces match.
FRU'R'U'RUR'F'RUR'U'R'FRF'
P 1/18 17 moves
Front-right and front-left corners swap, and two edges on the front/right faces swap.
R'U'F'RUR'U'R'FR2U'R'U'RUR'UR
P 1/18 18 moves
Two corners diagonal from each other swap, plus two adjacent edges swap. Complex pattern with no adjacent matching pieces.
R'UR'U'yR'F'R2U'R'UR'FRF
P 1/18 15 moves
Front-right corner swaps with back-right corner, front edge swaps with right edge.
L'U'LFL'U'LULF'L2ULU
P 1/18 14 moves
Front-right corner swaps with back-right corner, front edge swaps with back edge.
RUR'F'RUR'U'R'FR2U'R'U'
P 1/18 14 moves
Two corners and three edges are misplaced in a right-side cycle. One edge is in the correct position.
LU2L'U2LF'L'U'LULFL2U
P 1/18 14 moves
Mirror of Ra. Two corners and three edges misplaced, one edge correct.
R'U2RU2R'FRUR'U'R'F'R2U'
P 1/18 14 moves
Both diagonal corner pairs swap at once. All four corners are out of place with all four edges also misplaced.
RUR'URUR'F'RUR'U'R'FR2U'R'U2RU'R'
P 1/72 21 moves
Similar to Na but mirrored. All pieces misplaced with a reflected pattern.
R'URU'R'F'U'FRUR'FR'F'RU'R
P 1/72 17 moves
Three corners and three edges are all misplaced in a complex cycle pattern.
R2UR'UR'U'RU'R2U'DR'URD'
P 1/18 15 moves
Three corners and three edges misplaced. Mirror of Ga pattern.
R'U'RUD'R2UR'URU'RU'R2D
P 1/18 15 moves
Three corners and three edges misplaced. Similar to Ga from a different angle.
R2U'RU'RUR'UR2UD'RU'R'D
P 1/18 15 moves
Three corners and three edges misplaced. Similar to Gb from a different angle.
RUR'U'DR2U'RU'R'UR'UR2D'
P 1/18 15 moves
Common mistakes
Finger tricks that make PLL fast
M-slice flicks drive the edge perms. The H-perm (M2 U M2 U2 M2 U M2) and the U-perms are meant to be flicked with the slice, not turned face by face.
Wide-U plus a re-grip is the signature of every G-perm: a double-layer u turn cycles the layer as one fluid motion, and the baked-in rotation re-presents a comfortable R/U grip mid-algorithm.
Rotations are part of the trigger. When an algorithm contains a cube rotation, treat it as one continuous motion with the moves around it — not a separate step. And memorize with your hands: PLLs decompose into familiar triggers (the sexy move R U R' U', the R U R' F' opener, the F … F' sandwich), so the hand chunks them rather than reciting them.
Going further
Once full PLL is fluent, Harris points straight at the expert horizon:
- COLL — orient and permute the corners together in one look when edges are already oriented, so PLL collapses to a pure edge case.
- ZBLL — orient and permute the entire last layer in a single algorithm, given oriented edges. The far horizon.
- VH / ZB during F2L — influence the last layer while inserting the final F2L pair so you arrive at a known, smaller LL subset.
OLL Algorithms
Review top-face orientation before PLL
CFOP Introduction
Understand how PLL fits into the full CFOP method