MERGE(1)                  USER COMMANDS                  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 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 nor­
     mally  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  speci­
          fies  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  ver­
          sion 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                  Last change: 1995/06/01                    1