# git-merge-index(1) - man - phpMan

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



## NAME
       git-merge-index - Run a merge for files needing merging

## SYNOPSIS
       _git_ _merge-index_ [-o] [-q] <merge-program> (-a | [--] <file>*)


## DESCRIPTION
       This looks up the <file>(s) in the index and, if there are any merge entries, passes the
       SHA-1 hash for those files as arguments 1, 2, 3 (empty argument if no file), and <file> as
       argument 4. File modes for the three files are passed as arguments 5, 6 and 7.

## OPTIONS
       --
           Do not interpret any more arguments as options.

### -a
           Run merge against all files in the index that need merging.

### -o
           Instead of stopping at the first failed merge, do all of them in one shot - continue with
           merging even when previous merges returned errors, and only return the error code after
           all the merges.

### -q
           Do not complain about a failed merge program (a merge program failure usually indicates
           conflicts during the merge). This is for porcelains which might want to emit custom
           messages.

       If _git_ _merge-index_ is called with multiple <file>s (or -a) then it processes them in turn
       only stopping if merge returns a non-zero exit code.

       Typically this is run with a script calling Git’s imitation of the _merge_ command from the RCS
       package.

       A sample script called _git_ _merge-one-file_ is included in the distribution.

       ALERT ALERT ALERT! The Git "merge object order" is different from the RCS _merge_ program merge
       object order. In the above ordering, the original is first. But the argument order to the
       3-way merge program _merge_ is to have the original in the middle. Don’t ask me why.

       Examples:

           torvalds@ppc970:~/merge-test> git merge-index cat MM
           This is MM from the original tree.              # original
           This is modified MM in the branch A.            # merge1
           This is modified MM in the branch B.            # merge2
           This is modified MM in the branch B.            # current contents


       or

           torvalds@ppc970:~/merge-test> git merge-index cat AA MM
           cat: : No such file or directory
           This is added AA in the branch A.
           This is added AA in the branch B.
           This is added AA in the branch B.
           fatal: merge program failed


       where the latter example shows how _git_ _merge-index_ will stop trying to merge once anything
       has returned an error (i.e., **cat** returned an error for the AA file, because it didn’t exist
       in the original, and thus _git_ _merge-index_ didn’t even try to merge the MM thing).

## GIT
       Part of the [**git**(1)](https://www.chedong.com/phpMan.php/man/git/1/markdown) suite



Git 2.34.1                                   02/26/2026                           [GIT-MERGE-INDEX(1)](https://www.chedong.com/phpMan.php/man/GIT-MERGE-INDEX/1/markdown)