# GIT-MERGE-FILE(1) - man - phpMan

[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] <current-file> <base-file> <other-file>


## DESCRIPTION
       _git_ _merge-file_ incorporates all changes that lead from the **<base-file>** to **<other-file>** into
       **<current-file>**. The result ordinarily goes into **<current-file>**. _git_ _merge-file_ is useful for
       combining separate changes to an original. Suppose **<base-file>** is the original, and both
       **<current-file>** and **<other-file>** are modifications of **<base-file>**, then _git_ _merge-file_
       combines both changes.

       A conflict occurs if both **<current-file>** and **<other-file>** 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-file>**, lines from **<other-file>**, or lines from both
       respectively. The length of the conflict markers can be given with the **--marker-size** option.

       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
       -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-file>**.

       -q
           Quiet; do not warn about conflicts.

       --diff3
           Show conflicts in "diff3" 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
       Part of the [**git**(1)] suite



## Git 2.34.1                                   02/26/2026                            [GIT-MERGE-FILE(1)]