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 goes to standard 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.

     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 's version number.


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

IDENTIFICATION
     Author: Walter F. Tichy.
     Revision Number: 5.7; Release Date: 1998/01/12.
     Copyright c 1982, 1988, 1989 by Walter F. Tichy.
     Copyright c 1990, 1991, 1992, 1993, 1994, 1995 by 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.


                                                                        Page 2