Provided by: git-man_2.43.0-1ubuntu7.2_all 
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] [--object-id] <current> <base> <other>
DESCRIPTION
Given three files <current>, <base> and <other>, git merge-file incorporates all changes that lead from
<base> to <other> into <current>. The result ordinarily goes into <current>. git merge-file is useful for
combining separate changes to an original. Suppose <base> is the original, and both <current> and <other>
are modifications of <base>, then git merge-file combines both changes.
A conflict occurs if both <current> and <other> 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>, lines from <other>, or lines from both respectively. The length of the conflict markers can be
given with the --marker-size option.
If --object-id is specified, exactly the same behavior occurs, except that instead of specifying what to
merge as files, it is specified as a list of object IDs referring to blobs.
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
--object-id
Specify the contents to merge as blobs in the current repository instead of files. In this case, the
operation must take place within a valid repository.
If the -p option is specified, the merged file (including conflicts, if any) goes to standard output
as normal; otherwise, the merged file is written to the object store and the object ID of its blob is
written to standard output.
-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>.
-q
Quiet; do not warn about conflicts.
--diff3
Show conflicts in "diff3" style.
--zdiff3
Show conflicts in "zdiff3" 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 merge-file -p --object-id abc1234 def567 890abcd
combines the changes of the blob abc1234 and 890abcd since def567, tries to merge them and writes the
result to standard output
GIT
Part of the git(1) suite