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  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 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 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 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 RCS's version number.

DIAGNOSTICS

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

IDENTIFICATION

       Author: Walter F. Tichy.
       Manual Page Revision: 5.10.1; Release Date: 2022-02-19.
       Copyright © 2010-2022 Thien-Thi Nguyen.
       Copyright © 1990, 1991, 1992, 1993, 1994, 1995 Paul Eggert.
       Copyright © 1982, 1988, 1989 Walter F. Tichy.

SEE ALSO

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

       The full documentation for RCS is maintained as a Texinfo manual.  If the info(1) and  RCS  programs  are
       properly installed at your site, the command

              info rcs

       should give you access to the complete manual.  Additionally, the RCS homepage:

              http://www.gnu.org/software/rcs/

       has news and links to the latest release, development site, etc.

BUGS

       It  normally  does  not  make  sense to merge binary files as if they were text, but merge tries to do it
       anyway.

GNU RCS 5.10.1                                     2022-02-19                                           MERGE(1)