This is the home page for the abc standard, the (semi-formal) description of the rules of abc. It contains links to different versions of the standard and to development work.

If you wish to link to the standard, it is recommended that you link to this page, abcnotation.com/wiki/abc:standard, rather than to a specific version.

The new draft version of the standard is at

• abcnotation.com/wiki/abc:standard:v2.2 - abc standard 2.2

The current version of the standard is at:

• abcnotation.com/wiki/abc:standard:v2.1 - abc standard 2.1 (Dec 2011)

See the following pages:

• abcnotation.com/wiki/abc:standard:route-map - a route map of proposed developments to the standard
• abcnotation.com/wiki/abc:standard:updating - the process for proposing changes
• abcnotation.com/wiki/abc:standard:v2.1:proposals - draft proposals for possible inclusion in subsequent standards
• abcnotation.com/wiki/abc:standard:v2.0-v2.1 - changes between abc 2.0 and abc 2.1

A number of older versions are available:

• abcnotation.com/wiki/abc:standard:v2.0 - abc standard 2.0 (Dec 2010) - adopted whilst discussions on abc 2.1 were taking place
• http://abc.sourceforge.net/standard/abc2-draft.html - abc draft standard 2.0 (Aug 2003) - working draft version at abc.sourceforge.net
• abcnotation.com/standard/abc_v1.7.6-draft.txt - abc draft standard 1.7.6 (May 2000)
• abcnotation.com/standard/abc_v1.6.txt - abc standard 1.6 - the previous standard (Jan 1997)

Henrik Norbeck has provided formal specifications of the standard in Backus-Naur Format. They have now disappeared from his website, but archives are available at:

• https://web.archive.org/web/20120814155205/http://www.norbeck.nu/abc/bnf/abc20bnf.htm - abc draft standard 2.0
• https://web.archive.org/web/20130106185241/http://www.norbeck.nu/abc/abcbnf.htm - abc standard 1.6

Other developmental work on abc notation can also be found at:

• http://abcplus.sourceforge.net/ - AbcPlus, an enhanced version of abc based on developments implemented in abcm2ps and abcMIDI
• http://abc.sourceforge.net/standard/

Changes to the standard tend to be discussed at the abcusers mail list or occasionally in the discussion forum:

• http://groups.yahoo.com/group/abcusers/ - abcusers mail list
• abc standard discussion forum