# GIT-MERGE-FILE - Run a three-way file merge - man - [phpMan]

[_GIT-MERGE-FILE_(1)](https://www.chedong.com/phpMan.php/man/GIT-MERGE-FILE/1/markdown)                            Git Manual                            [_GIT-MERGE-FILE_(1)](https://www.chedong.com/phpMan.php/man/GIT-MERGE-FILE/1/markdown)

## 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)](https://www.chedong.com/phpMan.php/man/git/1/markdown).

## 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)](https://www.chedong.com/phpMan.php/man/git/1/markdown) suite

Git 2.43.0                                   07/02/2025                            [_GIT-MERGE-FILE_(1)](https://www.chedong.com/phpMan.php/man/GIT-MERGE-FILE/1/markdown)