Frequently Asked Question

How do I resolve a merge conflict?

A conflict arises when two branches have made incompatible changes to the same lines, or when one has deleted a file the other has modified. Git stops the merge, marks the conflicted regions in each affected file with <<<<<<<, =======, and >>>>>>> markers showing the two competing versions, and records the unresolved state in the index. git status lists the conflicted files; git diff shows the conflicts. Until you finish, you are mid-merge, you cannot make new commits.

Open each conflicted file, decide what the final text should be (usually some combination of both sides), delete the conflict markers, save, then git add the file. When every conflict is resolved, git commit finishes the merge with a merge commit. Tools like git mergetool will launch a graphical three-way merge editor (VS Code, meld, kdiff3) which is much less error-prone than editing markers by hand. If you get into a hopeless mess, git merge --abort undoes the merge and returns you to where you started.