Merge Conflicts Merge conflicts and how to resolve them

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How Merge Conflicts Happen

Merge conflicts happen when two commits affect the same line of code at the same time.

  1. Feature branch modifies line 5 and commits.
  2. Master branch modifies line 5 and commits.
  3. Master branch tries to merge feature branch.

Here’s how a merge conflict looks from the command line:

command line 
git branch feature
# make some changes
git commit -am "awesome branch stuff"

git checkout master
# make some changes to same code
git commit -am "master branch stuff"

git merge feature
# CONFLICT!

Explore a Merge Conflict

Use git diff to compare the changes in the feature branch and master branch.

command line 
git diff

Fix a Merge Conflict

The easiest way to fix the merge conflict is use the editor to choose between the incoming changes (feature) or the existing changes (master). Then create a new merge commit with the changes you want to keep.

command line 
# choose preferred code on master branch
git commit -am "resolved merge conflict"

If you’re not sure, you can abort:

command line 
git merge --abort
👈 git checkout
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Questions?

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