Cancel git merge but keep local changes

Question

I started a git merge, but made local changes that I want to keep. I no longer want to merge, and instead continue to work on the local changes. How do I do this?

Answer 1

Language is notoriously ambiguous. :-) When you say "keep local changes" you could mean either:

1. keep all current changes in the working directory, whether you manually edited those files OR the merge that you are in the middle of brought them in; or
2. discard any changes brought in by the merge and retain any changes that you have introduced.

This simple solution addresses point (1):

$ git stash save
$ git stash pop

Here's a transcript showing the affect:

$ git status
On branch stuff-217/apply-new-config-details
All conflicts fixed but you are still merging.  <<<<<< notice this line!

Changes to be committed:
        modified:   package.json
        modified:   src/wallabyTest.ts
        modified:   wallaby.js

$ git stash save
Saved working directory and index state WIP on stuff-217/apply-new-config-details...

$ git status
On branch stuff-217/apply-new-config-details
nothing to commit, working tree clean

$ git stash pop
On branch stuff-217/apply-new-config-details
                                             <<<<<< no longer in the merge!
Changes not staged for commit:
        modified:   package.json
        modified:   src/wallabyTest.ts
        modified:   wallaby.js

Answer 2

As per this answer to a similar question, since Git 2.23 (Q3 2019) you can use:

git merge --quit

This will:

• Forget about the current merge in progress.
• Leave the index and the working tree as-is.

Answer 3

First, copy the folder you're working in in case something bad happens. Git is usually pretty bulletproof, but if you start using git reset --hard, it's possible for bad things to happen.

Then, do a git commit --patch, picking only the changes that you want to keep and leaving everything that the merge did. Once you've committed those changes, do a git reset --hard, and the merge should be gone, but your changes should still be there.