Documentation / git-merge-file.txton commit Merge branch 'db/fetch-pack' (d90a7fd)
   1git-merge-file(1)
   2=================
   3
   4NAME
   5----
   6git-merge-file - Run a three-way file merge
   7
   8
   9SYNOPSIS
  10--------
  11[verse]
  12'git-merge-file' [-L <current-name> [-L <base-name> [-L <other-name>]]]
  13        [-p|--stdout] [-q|--quiet] <current-file> <base-file> <other-file>
  14
  15
  16DESCRIPTION
  17-----------
  18git-file-merge incorporates all changes that lead from the `<base-file>`
  19to `<other-file>` into `<current-file>`. The result ordinarily goes into
  20`<current-file>`. git-merge-file is useful for combining separate changes
  21to an original. Suppose `<base-file>` is the original, and both
  22`<current-file>` and `<other-file>` are modifications of `<base-file>`.
  23Then git-merge-file combines both changes.
  24
  25A conflict occurs if both `<current-file>` and `<other-file>` have changes
  26in a common segment of lines. If a conflict is found, git-merge-file
  27normally outputs a warning and brackets the conflict with <<<<<<< and
  28>>>>>>> lines. A typical conflict will look like this:
  29
  30        <<<<<<< A
  31        lines in file A
  32        =======
  33        lines in file B
  34        >>>>>>> B
  35
  36If there are conflicts, the user should edit the result and delete one of
  37the alternatives.
  38
  39The exit value of this program is negative on error, and the number of
  40conflicts otherwise. If the merge was clean, the exit value is 0.
  41
  42git-merge-file is designed to be a minimal clone of RCS merge, that is, it
  43implements all of RCS merge's functionality which is needed by
  44gitlink:git[1].
  45
  46
  47OPTIONS
  48-------
  49
  50-L <label>::
  51        This option may be given up to three times, and
  52        specifies labels to be used in place of the
  53        corresponding file names in conflict reports. That is,
  54        `git-merge-file -L x -L y -L z a b c` generates output that
  55        looks like it came from files x, y and z instead of
  56        from files a, b and c.
  57
  58-p::
  59        Send results to standard output instead of overwriting
  60        `<current-file>`.
  61
  62-q::
  63        Quiet;  do  not  warn about conflicts.
  64
  65
  66EXAMPLES
  67--------
  68
  69git merge-file README.my README README.upstream::
  70
  71        combines the changes of README.my and README.upstream since README,
  72        tries to merge them and writes the result into README.my.
  73
  74git merge-file -L a -L b -L c tmp/a123 tmp/b234 tmp/c345::
  75
  76        merges tmp/a123 and tmp/c345 with the base tmp/b234, but uses labels
  77        `a` and `c` instead of `tmp/a123` and `tmp/c345`.
  78
  79
  80Author
  81------
  82Written by Johannes Schindelin <johannes.schindelin@gmx.de>
  83
  84
  85Documentation
  86--------------
  87Documentation by Johannes Schindelin and the git-list <git@vger.kernel.org>,
  88with parts copied from the original documentation of RCS merge.
  89
  90GIT
  91---
  92Part of the gitlink:git[7] suite