GIT-MERGE-FILE(1)		   Git Manual		       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] [--object-id] <current> <base> <other>

DESCRIPTION
     Given  three  files  <current>, <base> and <other>, git merge-file incorpo-
     rates all changes that lead from <base> to <other> into <current>. The  re-
     sult 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 com-
     bines 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 con-
     flicts otherwise (truncated to 127 if there are more than	that  many  con-
     flicts). 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  in-
	 stead	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.

	 The --diff3 and --zdiff3 options default to the value of the merge.con-
	 flictStyle configuration variable (see git-config(1)).

     --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-algo-
	 rithm.

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

Git 2.55.0			   2026-06-29		       GIT-MERGE-FILE(1)