How to Resolve Merge Conflicts in Git

Edited 1 week ago by ExtremeHow Editorial Team

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When working with Git, merging branches is an essential part of collaboration. Developers can work on different features or fixes by creating different branches, and once their work is done, these branches need to be merged into the main branch or with each other. However, this can sometimes lead to merge conflicts. Let's learn what merge conflicts are and how to resolve them effectively.

What is a merge conflict?

Merge conflicts in Git occur when changes from one branch conflict with changes from another branch. This usually occurs when two developers modify the same line in the same file or one developer deletes a file while another developer edits it.

Conflicts can occur at various levels – including the line level, the file level, or even the entire directory structure – but in most scenarios, conflicts are line-level issues that require developer intervention to resolve.

Understanding the merger process

Merging is the process of combining changes from two branches. When you initiate a merge operation, Git attempts to automatically apply the changes from one branch to the current branch. If Git finds conflicting changes, it declares a merge conflict and stops the merge process to obtain user intervention to resolve the discrepancies before continuing the process.

Common causes of merge conflicts

• Two branches have modified the same line in a file.
• The file has been deleted in one branch but edited in another branch.
• The file is renamed in one branch and edited in the other branch.

Steps to resolve merge conflicts

Step 1: Identify conflicts

When a merge conflict occurs, Git will provide you with relevant information to detect the conflicts. It returns error messages indicating the files involved in the conflict. You can use git status command to view the list of files that have conflicts.

Step 2: Open the conflicting files

Once you locate the conflicting files, open them using your favorite text editor. Inside these files, you will see conflict markers that Git uses to indicate parts of the code that are conflicting. They will look something like this:

<<<<<<< HEAD Your changes in the current branch ======= Changes from the branch you were merging in >>>>>>> branch-name

Here, the code between <<<<<<< HEAD and ======= shows the changes on your current branch, while the code between ======= and >>>>>>> branch-name displays the changes on the branch you are trying to merge.

Step 3: Resolve disputes

Resolving conflicts involves deciding which changes from the two versions to keep. You have several options:

• Keep only your changes.
• Keep the changes you made in the branch you are merging into.
• Incorporate both types of changes in a meaningful way.

Once you've resolved the conflicts in a particular file, remove Git's conflict markers.

Step 4: Mark the file as resolved

After resolving the conflicts and clearing the conflict markers, mark the file as resolved using git add <file> command. This tells Git that you have manually resolved the conflicts and are ready to proceed.

Step 5: Continue the merge process

Once all conflicts are resolved and marked as such, you can complete the merge process by committing the changes. Run the following command:

git commit

This command will open a text editor to add a commit message. By default, Git provides a message indicating the merge commit.

Using graphical tools to increase comfort level

While the command-line tool is powerful, you may prefer a graphical tool for resolving conflicts. Various Git clients such as SourceTree, GitKraken, or integrated development environments (IDEs) such as Visual Studio Code can help visually identify integration conflicts.

Using Visual Studio Code

For example, Visual Studio Code has Git conflict resolution built in. When you open a file that has a conflict, it will display options to choose between the current change or an incoming change directly within the editor interface.

Preventing merge conflicts

Although conflicts are sometimes unavoidable, adopting certain practices can significantly reduce their frequency:

• Communicate with your team about who is working on which part of the codebase.
• Regularly pull changes from the main branch to stay updated with the work of others.
• Keep your changes focused and small. Large changes increase the chance of conflict.
• Consider using git rebase to incorporate the changes from the main branch before merging your branch.

When to use rebase for feature branches

Rebasing is a process that allows you to move or combine a sequence of commits into a different base commit. It can help you quickly resolve conflicts by allowing you to apply your changes over the latest changes from the target branch. This makes your commit history linear, reducing potential merge conflicts.

However, use rebase with caution in a collaborative environment, as it rewrites the commit history, which can cause problems if not all team members are aware.

Conclusion

Merge conflicts in Git are actually a common aspect of collaborative development. Although they can be challenging, understanding how to identify and resolve them is the key to maintaining a smooth workflow. With careful attention, effective communication, and regular integration of changes, you can minimize their occurrence and impact. Following the practices outlined — leveraging both command-line and graphical tools — will ensure that you handle merge conflicts in an efficient, reliable manner.

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