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         <current-file> <base-file> <other-file>
  15
  16
  17 DESCRIPTION
  18 -----------
  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.
  25
  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:
  30
  31         <<<<<<< A
  32         lines in file A
  33         =======
  34         lines in file B
  35         >>>>>>> B
  36
  37 If there are conflicts, the user should edit the result and delete one of
  38 the alternatives.  When `--ours`, `--theirs`, or `--union` option is in effect,
  39 however, these conflicts are resolved favouring lines from `<current-file>`,
  40 lines from `<other-file>`, or lines from both respectively.  The length of the
  41 conflict markers can be given with the `--marker-size` option.
  42
  43 The exit value of this program is negative on error, and the number of
  44 conflicts otherwise. If the merge was clean, the exit value is 0.
  45
  46 'git merge-file' is designed to be a minimal clone of RCS 'merge'; that is, it
  47 implements all of RCS 'merge''s functionality which is needed by
  48 linkgit:git[1].
  49
  50
  51 OPTIONS
  52 -------
  53
  54 -L <label>::
  55         This option may be given up to three times, and
  56         specifies labels to be used in place of the
  57         corresponding file names in conflict reports. That is,
  58         `git merge-file -L x -L y -L z a b c` generates output that
  59         looks like it came from files x, y and z instead of
  60         from files a, b and c.
  61
  62 -p::
  63         Send results to standard output instead of overwriting
  64         `<current-file>`.
  65
  66 -q::
  67         Quiet; do not warn about conflicts.
  68
  69 --ours::
  70 --theirs::
  71 --union::
  72         Instead of leaving conflicts in the file, resolve conflicts
  73         favouring our (or their or both) side of the lines.
  74
  75
  76 EXAMPLES
  77 --------
  78
  79 git merge-file README.my README README.upstream::
  80
  81         combines the changes of README.my and README.upstream since README,
  82         tries to merge them and writes the result into README.my.
  83
  84 git merge-file -L a -L b -L c tmp/a123 tmp/b234 tmp/c345::
  85
  86         merges tmp/a123 and tmp/c345 with the base tmp/b234, but uses labels
  87         `a` and `c` instead of `tmp/a123` and `tmp/c345`.
  88
  89 GIT
  90 ---
  91 Part of the linkgit:git[1] suite