merge
incorporates all changes that lead from
file2
to
file3
into
file1.
The result ordinarily 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
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 Alines 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.
DIAGNOSTICS
Exit status is 0 for no conflicts, 1 for some conflicts, 2 for trouble.
