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>]
           [--[no-]diff3] <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 (truncated to 127 if there are more than that many
   conflicts). 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.

   --diff3
       Show conflicts in "diff3" style.

   --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.

GIT

   Part of the git(1) suite

---

Free and Open Source Software