1MERGE(1)                    General Commands Manual                   MERGE(1)
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NAME

6       merge - three-way file merge
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SYNOPSIS

9       merge [ options ] file1 file2 file3
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DESCRIPTION

12       merge  incorporates  all  changes  that  lead  from file2 to file3 into
13       file1.  The result ordinarily goes into file1.   merge  is  useful  for
14       combining separate changes to an original.  Suppose file2 is the origi‐
15       nal, and both file1 and file3 are modifications of file2.   Then  merge
16       combines both changes.
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18       A conflict occurs if both file1 and file3 have changes in a common seg‐
19       ment of lines.  If a conflict is found, merge normally outputs a  warn‐
20       ing  and brackets the conflict with <<<<<<< and >>>>>>> lines.  A typi‐
21       cal conflict will look like this:
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23              <<<<<<< file A
24              lines in file A
25              =======
26              lines in file B
27              >>>>>>> file B
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29       If there are conflicts, the user should edit the result and delete  one
30       of the alternatives.
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OPTIONS

33       -A     Output conflicts using the -A style of diff3(1), if supported by
34              diff3.  This merges all changes leading from file2 to file3 into
35              file1, and generates the most verbose output.
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37       -E, -e These  options specify conflict styles that generate less infor‐
38              mation than -A.  See diff3(1) for details.  The default  is  -E.
39              With -e, merge does not warn about conflicts.
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41       -L label
42              This option may be given up to three times, and specifies labels
43              to be used in place of the corresponding file names in  conflict
44              reports.   That  is, merge -L x -L y -L z a b c generates output
45              that looks like it came from files x, y and z  instead  of  from
46              files a, b and c.
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48       -p     Send results to standard output instead of overwriting file1.
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50       -q     Quiet; do not warn about conflicts.  -V Print 's version number.
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DIAGNOSTICS

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

56       Author: Walter F. Tichy.
57       Manual Page Revision: 5.7; Release Date: 1995/06/01.
58       Copyright © 1982, 1988, 1989 Walter F. Tichy.
59       Copyright © 1990, 1991, 1992, 1993, 1994, 1995 Paul Eggert.
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SEE ALSO

62       diff3(1), diff(1), rcsmerge(1), co(1).
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BUGS

65       It  normally  does not make sense to merge binary files as if they were
66       text, but merge tries to do it anyway.
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70GNU                               1995/06/01                          MERGE(1)