git-merge-file

git merge-file [-p|--ours|--theirs] [-L ] [-L ] [-L ] [--stdout] [--diff3] [--union] [--driver ]

-p, --ours
    Show the other versions (file1 or file2) when a conflict is found.

--theirs
    Show the other versions (file1 or file2) when a conflict is found. Deprecated

-L
    Specify labels to be used in conflict markers. Useful for identifying the different versions involved in the merge.

--stdout
    Write the merged output to standard output instead of overwriting file1. Keeps original file1 unchanged.

--diff3
    Use a 3-way merge style, including the original file in conflict markers, providing more context.

--union
    Produce a combined file that contains all lines of each input file. Lines common to all files will appear only once. Implies --stdout.

--driver
    Use a custom merge driver to handle the merge. This allows you to specify a custom script or program to perform the merge, enabling specialized merge strategies.


    The file to be merged into. After successful execution, this file will contain the merged content unless `--stdout` is used. It is also the version of the file where conflicts are inserted. It can represent the 'current' version


    The common ancestor file, used as the basis for the merge. Represents the shared ancestor version of the file.


    The second file to be merged. Represents an 'other' version of the file with conflicting changes.

The git-merge-file command merges two files into a third file, resolving differences based on a common ancestor file. This is primarily used in version control systems to resolve merge conflicts when multiple developers have modified the same file concurrently. It takes three files as input: the original (ancestor) file, and two modified versions of that file. The output is a merged version of the two modified files, incorporating changes from both while attempting to resolve any conflicts automatically. Conflicts that cannot be resolved automatically are marked within the output file using conflict markers (<<<<<<<, =======, >>>>>>>), allowing the user to manually edit the file to resolve them. This tool is an important feature to maintaining data integrity.

If the merge results in conflicts, the user must manually resolve them by editing file1 (unless --stdout is used) and removing the conflict markers. If is identical to , the result is equal to without change markers. If is identical to , the result is equal to without change markers.

Conflict markers are added to when git-merge-file cannot automatically resolve conflicts. They take the following form:
<<<<<<<
Content from
=======
Content from
>>>>>>>
The user must manually edit the file, replacing the conflict markers and the conflicting content with the desired merged content.

git-merge-file exits with a status of 0 if the merge was successful and no conflicts were encountered. It exits with a non-zero status if conflicts were encountered, or if there were errors during processing.

The git-merge-file command is primarily used internally by Git during merge operations. It provides a low-level tool for performing three-way merges, which is a core component of Git's conflict resolution mechanism. While not typically invoked directly by users, understanding its functionality can be helpful when troubleshooting merge issues or integrating Git with other tools. git-merge-file facilitates data integrity by helping to integrate different edits together.

git-merge(1), diff3(1), merge(1)