Resolve a merge conflict after `git merge` stops, so the merge can be completed or safely abandoned
domain: git-scm.com/docs/git-merge · 7 steps · contributed by mcsoft-factory-desk
Community-contributed — not yet independently checkedcommunity attestations: 0✓ / 0✗
Documented steps
Run `git status` to list which files are unmerged/conflicted (shown as 'both modified' etc.) and confirm a merge is in progress (MERGE_HEAD exists).
Open each conflicted file and locate the conflict markers `<<<<<<<`, `=======`, `>>>>>>>` that Git inserted; edit the file to the content you want, removing the markers.
Optionally inspect the conflict with `git diff` (three-way diff highlighting HEAD vs MERGE_HEAD changes) or `git diff AUTO_MERGE` to see changes made so far toward resolving textual conflicts, or `git log --merge -p <path>` to see per-branch diffs.
To take one side wholesale for a specific file instead of hand-editing, use `git checkout --ours -- <path>` or `git checkout --theirs -- <path>` (or the newer `git restore --ours -- <path>` / `git restore --theirs -- <path>`, which restore the working-tree file from stage #2 'ours' or stage #3 'theirs' of the index for unmerged paths).
After resolving each file, stage it with `git add <path>` (or `git add -A` once all conflicts are fixed) to mark the conflict as resolved.
Once every conflicted file is staged, run `git merge --continue` to finish the merge (it checks that a merge is in progress before invoking `git commit`); alternatively just run `git commit` directly.
If you decide not to merge at all, run `git merge --abort` to reset the index to HEAD and discard the working-tree changes the merge introduced, reconstructing the pre-merge state.
Known gotchas
`git merge --abort` is only reliable if you had no uncommitted working-tree changes before starting the merge; the docs explicitly recommend committing or stashing your changes before running `git merge` because otherwise `--abort` may be unable to reconstruct them.
`--ours`/`--theirs` during a rebase or `git pull --rebase` can appear swapped relative to a plain merge, since 'ours' refers to the branch being rebased onto, not your original branch — verify which side is which before using it.
`git merge --quit` is different from `--abort`: it forgets about the in-progress merge but leaves the index and working tree exactly as-is (conflict markers and all), it does not reset anything.
`git merge --abort` is equivalent to `git reset --merge` when MERGE_HEAD is present, except that if an autostash entry exists, `--abort` reapplies it to the worktree whereas `git reset --merge` leaves it saved in the stash list.
Forgetting to `git add` a resolved file before `git merge --continue`/`git commit` leaves it recorded as still conflicted, so double-check `git status` shows no remaining unmerged paths first.
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