Originally posted by DeepThoughtCorrection. The FEN is read like a page of ordinary print; starting at a8 and working along each rank in turn, finishing at h1.
The fen starts at a1 and ends at h8, the end of each rank is designated by a /
So the following fen gives the position after 1. e4: rnbqkbnr/pppppppp/8/8/4P3/8/PPPP1PPP/RNBQKBNR
to give:
[fen]rnbqkbnr/pppppppp/8/8/4P3/8/PPPP1PPP/RNBQKBNR[/fen]
Edit: too late.[/b]