merge

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 orig-
       inal, 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 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 gener-
	      ates 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 num-
	      ber.

DIAGNOSTICS
       Exit status is 0 for no conflicts, 1 for some conflicts, 2  for	trou-
       ble.

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)