MERGE(1)MERGE(1)NAMEmerge - three-way file mergeSYNOPSISmerge [ options ] file1 file2 file3
DESCRIPTIONmerge incorporates all changes that lead from file2 to file3 into file1.
The result goes to standard output if -p is present, into file1
otherwise. 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 combines 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 conflicts.
-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 's version number.
Page 1
MERGE(1)MERGE(1)DIAGNOSTICS
Exit status is 0 for no conflicts, 1 for some conflicts, 2 for trouble.
IDENTIFICATION
Author: Walter F. Tichy.
Revision Number: 5.7; Release Date: 1998/01/12.
Copyright c 1982, 1988, 1989 by Walter F. Tichy.
Copyright c 1990, 1991, 1992, 1993, 1994, 1995 by Paul Eggert.
SEE ALSOdiff3(1), diff(1), rcsmerge(1), co(1).
BUGS
It normally does not make sense to merge binary files as if they were
text, but merge tries to do it anyway.
Page 2
