Documentation/git-merge-file.txt

   1 git-merge-file(1)
   2 =================
   3
   4 NAME
   5 ----
   6 git-merge-file - Run a three-way file merge
   7
   8
   9 SYNOPSIS
  10 --------
  11 [verse]
  12 'git merge-file' [-L <current-name> [-L <base-name> [-L <other-name>]]]
  13         [--ours|--theirs|--union] [-p|--stdout] [-q|--quiet] [--marker-size=<n>]
  14         [--[no-]diff3] [--object-id] <current> <base> <other>
  15
  16
  17 DESCRIPTION
  18 -----------
  19 Given three files `<current>`, `<base>` and `<other>`,
  20 'git merge-file' incorporates all changes that lead from `<base>`
  21 to `<other>` into `<current>`. The result ordinarily goes into
  22 `<current>`. 'git merge-file' is useful for combining separate changes
  23 to an original. Suppose `<base>` is the original, and both
  24 `<current>` and `<other>` are modifications of `<base>`,
  25 then 'git merge-file' combines both changes.
  26
  27 A conflict occurs if both `<current>` and `<other>` have changes
  28 in a common segment of lines. If a conflict is found, 'git merge-file'
  29 normally outputs a warning and brackets the conflict with lines containing
  30 <<<<<<< and >>>>>>> markers. A typical conflict will look like this:
  31
  32         <<<<<<< A
  33         lines in file A
  34         =======
  35         lines in file B
  36         >>>>>>> B
  37
  38 If there are conflicts, the user should edit the result and delete one of
  39 the alternatives.  When `--ours`, `--theirs`, or `--union` option is in effect,
  40 however, these conflicts are resolved favouring lines from `<current>`,
  41 lines from `<other>`, or lines from both respectively.  The length of the
  42 conflict markers can be given with the `--marker-size` option.
  43
  44 If `--object-id` is specified, exactly the same behavior occurs, except that
  45 instead of specifying what to merge as files, it is specified as a list of
  46 object IDs referring to blobs.
  47
  48 The exit value of this program is negative on error, and the number of
  49 conflicts otherwise (truncated to 127 if there are more than that many
  50 conflicts). If the merge was clean, the exit value is 0.
  51
  52 'git merge-file' is designed to be a minimal clone of RCS 'merge'; that is, it
  53 implements all of RCS 'merge''s functionality which is needed by
  54 linkgit:git[1].
  55
  56
  57 OPTIONS
  58 -------
  59
  60 --object-id::
  61         Specify the contents to merge as blobs in the current repository instead of
  62         files.  In this case, the operation must take place within a valid repository.
  63 +
  64 If the `-p` option is specified, the merged file (including conflicts, if any)
  65 goes to standard output as normal; otherwise, the merged file is written to the
  66 object store and the object ID of its blob is written to standard output.
  67
  68 -L <label>::
  69         This option may be given up to three times, and
  70         specifies labels to be used in place of the
  71         corresponding file names in conflict reports. That is,
  72         `git merge-file -L x -L y -L z a b c` generates output that
  73         looks like it came from files x, y and z instead of
  74         from files a, b and c.
  75
  76 -p::
  77         Send results to standard output instead of overwriting
  78         `<current>`.
  79
  80 -q::
  81         Quiet; do not warn about conflicts.
  82
  83 --diff3::
  84         Show conflicts in "diff3" style.
  85
  86 --zdiff3::
  87         Show conflicts in "zdiff3" style.
  88
  89 --ours::
  90 --theirs::
  91 --union::
  92         Instead of leaving conflicts in the file, resolve conflicts
  93         favouring our (or their or both) side of the lines.
  94
  95
  96 EXAMPLES
  97 --------
  98
  99 `git merge-file README.my README README.upstream`::
 100
 101         combines the changes of README.my and README.upstream since README,
 102         tries to merge them and writes the result into README.my.
 103
 104 `git merge-file -L a -L b -L c tmp/a123 tmp/b234 tmp/c345`::
 105
 106         merges tmp/a123 and tmp/c345 with the base tmp/b234, but uses labels
 107         `a` and `c` instead of `tmp/a123` and `tmp/c345`.
 108
 109 `git merge-file -p --object-id abc1234 def567 890abcd`::
 110
 111         combines the changes of the blob abc1234 and 890abcd since def567,
 112         tries to merge them and writes the result to standard output
 113
 114 GIT
 115 ---
 116 Part of the linkgit:git[1] suite