GIT-MERGE-FILE(1)                                          Git Manual                                          GIT-MERGE-FILE(1)



NAME
       git-merge-file - Run a three-way file merge

SYNOPSIS
       git merge-file [-L <current-name> [-L <base-name> [-L <other-name>]]]
               [--ours|--theirs|--union] [-p|--stdout] [-q|--quiet] [--marker-size=<n>]
               <current-file> <base-file> <other-file>


DESCRIPTION
       git merge-file incorporates all changes that lead from the <base-file> to <other-file> into <current-file>. The result
       ordinarily goes into <current-file>. git merge-file is useful for combining separate changes to an original. Suppose
       <base-file> is the original, and both <current-file> and <other-file> are modifications of <base-file>, then git
       merge-file combines both changes.

       A conflict occurs if both <current-file> and <other-file> have changes in a common segment of lines. If a conflict is
       found, git merge-file normally outputs a warning and brackets the conflict with lines containing <<<<<<< and >>>>>>>
       markers. A typical conflict will look like this:

           <<<<<<< A
           lines in file A
           =======
           lines in file B
           >>>>>>> B

       If there are conflicts, the user should edit the result and delete one of the alternatives. When --ours, --theirs, or
       --union option is in effect, however, these conflicts are resolved favouring lines from <current-file>, lines from
       <other-file>, or lines from both respectively. The length of the conflict markers can be given with the --marker-size
       option.

       The exit value of this program is negative on error, and the number of conflicts otherwise. If the merge was clean, the
       exit value is 0.

       git merge-file is designed to be a minimal clone of RCS merge; that is, it implements all of RCS merge's functionality
       which is needed by git(1).

OPTIONS
       -L <label>
           This option may be given up to three times, and specifies labels to be used in place of the corresponding file names
           in conflict reports. That is, git merge-file -L x -L y -L z a b c generates output that looks like it came from files
           x, y and z instead of from files a, b and c.

       -p
           Send results to standard output instead of overwriting <current-file>.

       -q
           Quiet; do not warn about conflicts.

       --ours, --theirs, --union
           Instead of leaving conflicts in the file, resolve conflicts favouring our (or their or both) side of the lines.

EXAMPLES
       git merge-file README.my README README.upstream
           combines the changes of README.my and README.upstream since README, tries to merge them and writes the result into
           README.my.

       git merge-file -L a -L b -L c tmp/a123 tmp/b234 tmp/c345
           merges tmp/a123 and tmp/c345 with the base tmp/b234, but uses labels a and c instead of tmp/a123 and tmp/c345.

AUTHOR
       Written by Johannes Schindelin <johannes.schindelinATgmx.de[1]>

DOCUMENTATION
       Documentation by Johannes Schindelin and the git-list <gitATvger.org[2]>, with parts copied from the original
       documentation of RCS merge.

GIT
       Part of the git(1) suite

NOTES
        1. johannes.schindelinATgmx.de
           mailto:johannes.schindelinATgmx.de

        2. gitATvger.org
           mailto:gitATvger.org



Git 1.7.4.4                                                04/11/2011                                          GIT-MERGE-FILE(1)