---
name: "merge"
section: "1"
platform: "linux"
package: "rcs"
version: "5.10.1-3"
release: "Arch Linux 2026-11-01"
platforms: ["linux", "openbsd"]
url: "https://new.carta.tech/merge"
---

# merge(1)

three-way file merge

## 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)](/diff3/1.md), 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)](/diff3/1.md) 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: 2022-02-03.\
 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)](/diff3/1.md), [**diff**(1)](/diff/1.md), [**rcsmerge**(1)](/rcsmerge/1.md), [**co**(1)](/co/1.md).

The full documentation for RCS is maintained as a Texinfo manual. If the [**info**(1)](/info/1.md) 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.\