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.

       --diff-algorithm={patience|minimal|histogram|myers}
           Use a different diff algorithm while merging. The current default is "myers", but
           selecting more recent algorithm such as "histogram" can help avoid mismerges that
           occur due to unimportant matching lines (such as braces from distinct functions). See
           also git-diff(1) --diff-algorithm.

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