merge(1) - NetBSD Manual Pages

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MERGE(1)                                                              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 ordinarily goes into file1.   merge  is  useful  for
       combining separate changes to an original.  Suppose file2 is the origi-
       nal, 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 seg-
       ment of lines.  If a conflict is found, merge normally outputs a  warn-
       ing  and brackets the conflict with <<<<<<< and >>>>>>> lines.  A typi-
       cal 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 infor-
              mation 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 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: 5.7; Release Date: 1995/06/01.
       Copyright © 1982, 1988, 1989 Walter F. Tichy.
       Copyright © 1990, 1991, 1992, 1993, 1994, 1995 Paul Eggert.


SEE ALSO

       diff3(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.



GNU                               1995/06/01                          MERGE(1)