MERGE(1)

NAME
merge - three-way file merge

SYNOPSIS
merge [ -p ] file1 file2 file3

DESCRIPTION
Merge incorporates all changes that lead from file2 to file3 into file1. The result goes to std. output if -p is present, into file1 otherwise. 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.

An overlap occurs if both file1 and file3 have changes in a common segment of lines. Merge prints how many overlaps occurred, and includes both alternatives in the result. The alternatives are delimited as follows:

        <<<<<<< file1
        lines in file1
        =======
        lines in file3
        >>>>>>> file3

If there are overlaps, the user should edit the result and delete one of the alternatives.

IDENTIFICATION
Author: Walter F. Tichy, Purdue University, West Lafayette, IN, 47907.

Revision Number: ; Release Date: .

Copyright © 1982 by Walter F. Tichy.

SEE ALSO
diff3 (1), diff (1), rcsmerge (1), co (1).

BUGS

If a file has an incomplete last line (a line not terminated with a newline character) merge will ignore the line when doing the comparison.