Version history

December 25, 2023. Version 2.6.

• Complex replacements.
• 64-bit version; less pages in the installer.
• Flash the taskbar button and the window title when a long operation is complete.
• Pressing the left arrow in the list moves selection to the file name, so you can quickly jump to the next/previous file.
• Basic support for emojis (ZWJ sequences are displayed as separate characters).
• Updated case mappings to Unicode 15.1.
• Fixed: replacement in large files.
• Fixed: batch replacement from the command line when no matches were found.

January 7, 2023. Version 2.5.6. Fixed box character displayed under Windows XP; fixed the installer for standard user; don't uninstall preferences by default; store language files in the program files folder; updated the French language file.

Versions 2.5.1-2.5.5 were released internally for Microsoft Store and never published.

December 11, 2022. Version 2.5.

• Search and replace from the command line.
• Skip subdirectories when searching.
• The new folder browsing dialog.
• Sorting the found files.
• Escape sequences inside the character lists.
• Fixed: very short files were sometimes erroneously detected as UTF-16.
• Fixed: the icons were pixelated at 125% scaling.
• Fixed: incorrect search in files slightly larger than 4 GB.
• Fixed: false positives when searching for the replacement character U+FFFD (many thanks to Joe).
• Digital signatures for all executable files.

October 10, 2021. Version 2.4.1. Fixed the \n escape sequence in the replacement string.

September 5, 2021. Version 2.4. Support for the paths longer than 260 characters. Improved bug reporting. Support for 4K displays; a larger installer window. Excluded more binary file extensions by default. Fixed the annoying sound when typing a regular expression. Added a French translation (thanks to Pouemes).

June 7, 2013. Version 2.3.3. Updated Italian translation by Angelo. Fixed replacement at the end of a file and running Aba from USB flash drive (many thanks to Cameron Edgell).

November 15, 2012. Version 2.3.2. Spanish translation by Roberto Porcar.

April 13, 2012. Version 2.3.1. Fixed case-sensitive file search.

March 8, 2012. Version 2.3. C++ and Python syntax highlight. Minimizing ?? and atomic groups in regular expressions. Fixed a crash when using minimizing repetitions, a display bug, and typos in the help file (thanks to Andy).

January 3, 2012. Version 2.2. Lookaround and braces in regular expressions. Fixed: the program crashed when processing invalid UTF-8 or when changing a long replacement; incorrect PHP syntax highlight and other minor bugs. Implemented \b \B \A \Z anchors and non-capturing groups. Updated German translation by Stefan Schuck.

November 18, 2011. Version 2.1.2. Improved date/time display. Fixed: command-line parameters were not interpreted; the program crashed when inserting text of a certain length.

November 11, 2011. Version 2.1. Fixed: date/time was displayed incorrectly; it was possible to find the same file twice, and five other bugs. Added File menu.

October 25, 2011. Version 2.0 final. Fixed tools setup (thanks to Massimiliano Tiraboschi). Fixed a memory bug (leading to a crash) and two bugs, which caused Aba to skip more files than necessary. Fixed results pane resizing. The match case mode was not saved in favorites; it's fixed now. Added an option to remove preferences and undo items to uninstaller. Removed Close button from the Replacement complete window. Corrected color scheme. The buttons are now wider to accommodate translated strings.

October 5, 2011. Version 2.0 beta 2. Fixed the problem with character classes (thanks to Kyle Alons). A file is now skipped if you don't have enough permissions to read it (thanks to JJS). Fixed updating status bar on the Undo tab. Aba's shortcut is installed only for the current user now. Corrected terminology in the help file.

September 28, 2011. Version 2.0 beta.

• Added syntax highlight for context viewer and for regular expressions.
• Implemented search history and favorites.
• Now you can undo a replacement if you have started another search or closed the program (undo information is saved in a dedicated folder).
• An editor or a viewer can be called for the selected file.
• When search or replacement is finished, the program notifies you by playing a sound.
• Visual styles and Windows 7 taskbar are now supported.
• When you edit the Replace with field, the search is not restarted (except when needed).
• Non-greedy matches are faster than they were in the previous version.

January 5, 2010. Version 1.3.2. Fixed context menu under 64-bit Windows (thanks to Massimiliano Tiraboschi).

August 17, 2009. Version 1.3.1. Keyboard interface improvements (thanks to Kyle Alons).

May 23, 2009. Version 1.3. Fixed copying text in a non-ASCII codepage, searching in a large number of files, and other bugs. Added support for non-greedy matches and backreferences in replacement text. Implemented copying results to clipboard, reading configuration data from the program directory, and saving main window position and size. Improved keyboard interface.

Jul 21, 2008. Version 1.2.3. Fixed searching in the root of a drive; fixed status bar size in large fonts scheme. Updated to Unicode 5.1 character database.

May 14, 2008. Version 1.2.2. Added German translation (thanks to Stefan Schuck).

Feb 7, 2008. The copy of this help file was published online.

Jan 7, 2008. Version 1.2.1. Bugfix release. Added Italian translation (many thanks to Angelo from Geminisoft).

Jan 1, 2008. Version 1.2 released. Selected file name and encoding are now displayed in the status bar. Besides, several bugs were fixed.

Nov 25, 2007. Version 1.1 released. Aba can now be integrated with Total Commander.

Oct 21, 2007. Version 1.0. Initial public release.