MirBSD manpage: merge(1)

MERGE(1)            UNIX Programmer's Manual             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.  Sup-
     pose 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 con-
          flicts.

     -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 version

GNU                        1995/06/01                           1

MERGE(1)            UNIX Programmer's Manual             MERGE(1)

          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 (C) 1982, 1988, 1989 Walter F. Tichy.
     Copyright (C) 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                           2