6 git-merge-file - Run a three-way file merge
12 'git merge-file' [-L <current-name> [-L <base-name> [-L <other-name>]]]
13 [--ours|--theirs] [-p|--stdout] [-q|--quiet]
14 <current-file> <base-file> <other-file>
19 'git merge-file' incorporates all changes that lead from the `<base-file>`
20 to `<other-file>` into `<current-file>`. The result ordinarily goes into
21 `<current-file>`. 'git merge-file' is useful for combining separate changes
22 to an original. Suppose `<base-file>` is the original, and both
23 `<current-file>` and `<other-file>` are modifications of `<base-file>`,
24 then 'git merge-file' combines both changes.
26 A conflict occurs if both `<current-file>` and `<other-file>` have changes
27 in a common segment of lines. If a conflict is found, 'git merge-file'
28 normally outputs a warning and brackets the conflict with lines containing
29 <<<<<<< and >>>>>>> markers. A typical conflict will look like this:
37 If there are conflicts, the user should edit the result and delete one of
38 the alternatives. When `--ours` or `--theirs` option is in effect, however,
39 these conflicts are resolved favouring lines from `<current-file>` or
40 lines from `<other-file>` respectively.
42 The exit value of this program is negative on error, and the number of
43 conflicts otherwise. If the merge was clean, the exit value is 0.
45 'git merge-file' is designed to be a minimal clone of RCS 'merge'; that is, it
46 implements all of RCS 'merge''s functionality which is needed by
54 This option may be given up to three times, and
55 specifies labels to be used in place of the
56 corresponding file names in conflict reports. That is,
57 `git merge-file -L x -L y -L z a b c` generates output that
58 looks like it came from files x, y and z instead of
59 from files a, b and c.
62 Send results to standard output instead of overwriting
66 Quiet; do not warn about conflicts.
70 Instead of leaving conflicts in the file, resolve conflicts
71 favouring our (or their) side of the lines.
77 git merge-file README.my README README.upstream::
79 combines the changes of README.my and README.upstream since README,
80 tries to merge them and writes the result into README.my.
82 git merge-file -L a -L b -L c tmp/a123 tmp/b234 tmp/c345::
84 merges tmp/a123 and tmp/c345 with the base tmp/b234, but uses labels
85 `a` and `c` instead of `tmp/a123` and `tmp/c345`.
90 Written by Johannes Schindelin <johannes.schindelin@gmx.de>
95 Documentation by Johannes Schindelin and the git-list <git@vger.kernel.org>,
96 with parts copied from the original documentation of RCS 'merge'.
100 Part of the linkgit:git[1] suite