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MERGE(1)                               General Commands Manual                              MERGE(1)



NAME
       merge - three-way file merge

SYNOPSIS
       merge [ options ] file1 file2 file3

DESCRIPTION
       merge incorporates all changes that lead from file2 to file3 into file1.  The result ordinar‐
       ily goes into file1.  merge is useful for combining separate changes to an original.  Suppose
       file2  is the original, and both file1 and file3 are modifications of file2.  Then merge com‐
       bines both changes.

       A conflict occurs if both file1 and file3 have changes in a common segment of  lines.   If  a
       conflict  is  found,  merge normally outputs a warning and brackets the conflict with <<<<<<<
       and >>>>>>> lines.  A typical conflict will look like this:

              <<<<<<< file A
              lines in file A
              =======
              lines in file B
              >>>>>>> file B

       If there are conflicts, the user should edit the result and delete one of the alternatives.

OPTIONS
       -A     Output conflicts using the -A style of diff3(1), if supported by diff3.   This  merges
              all  changes  leading  from  file2 to file3 into file1, and generates the most verbose
              output.

       -E, -e These options specify conflict styles that generate less  information  than  -A.   See
              diff3(1)  for  details.   The  default is -E.  With -e, merge does not warn about con‐
              flicts.

       -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,
              merge -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 file1.

       -q     Quiet; do not warn about conflicts.

       -V     Print RCS's version number.

DIAGNOSTICS
       Exit status is 0 for no conflicts, 1 for some conflicts, 2 for trouble.

IDENTIFICATION
       Author: Walter F. Tichy.
       Manual Page Revision: 5.10.1; Release Date: 2022-02-19.
       Copyright © 2010-2022 Thien-Thi Nguyen.
       Copyright © 1990, 1991, 1992, 1993, 1994, 1995 Paul Eggert.
       Copyright © 1982, 1988, 1989 Walter F. Tichy.

SEE ALSO
       diff3(1), diff(1), rcsmerge(1), co(1).

       The  full  documentation  for  RCS is maintained as a Texinfo manual.  If the info(1) and RCS
       programs are properly installed at your site, the command

              info rcs

       should give you access to the complete manual.  Additionally, the RCS homepage:

              http://www.gnu.org/software/rcs/

       has news and links to the latest release, development site, etc.

BUGS
       It normally does not make sense to merge binary files as if they were text, but  merge  tries
       to do it anyway.



GNU RCS 5.10.1                               2022-02-19                                     MERGE(1)