Git merge left HEAD marks in my files

Question

I tried to merge a file in the command line using Git, when an error message appeared telling me the merge was aborted.

I thought that was the end of it, but then I realized there are gitmarks in my files. Like so:

start =     expression  validchar =      [0-9a-zA-Z_?!+\-=@#$%^&*/.]  integer =  <<<<<<< HEAD     digits:[0-9]+         { return digits.join(""); } =======     sign:"-"* digits:[0-9]+         { return sign + digits.join(""); } >>>>>>> gh-pages 

The files have been edited not by me and show lines inserted with:

• HEAD after less than signs (<<<<<<< HEAD)
• lines of changed code
• a string of equals signs (=======)
• the new version of the code
• another line starting with greater than signs and the name of the branch (>>>>>>> gh-pages)

What's worse is that the file contents are no longer in order. Does anyone know how I get those files back to normal, and the changes I made in the gh-branch merged into the master branch?

Answer 1

Those are conflict markers. You're still in the process of merging, but there were some parts that Git couldn't merge automatically. You'll need to hand-edit those parts to what you want them to be and then commit the results.

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For instance, in your particular case, you'd probably want to resolve it like this (note - the arrows/text on the right are just my notes, not something you'd type into the file):

integer =  <<<<<<< HEAD                                  <-+ remove the bits here     digits:[0-9]+                               |         { return digits.join(""); }             | =======                                       <-+     sign:"-"* digits:[0-9]+         { return sign + digits.join(""); } >>>>>>> gh-pages                              <-- and this 

and thus you'd save the file as...

integer =      sign:"-"* digits:[0-9]+         { return sign + digits.join(""); } 

Answer 2

Absolutely start with 'git status' to see what you've got. If you aborted a merge (or had a merge aborted) and you've got conflicted files in the working directory then something went wrong. The Git status will tell you where you are. After that, you have a number of options. You should resolve the merge commit either by-hand, which can be challenging, or using a tool as:

git mergetool 

The merge tool will work if your files are listed as needing a merge.

You can also perform one of:

git checkout --ours -- /path/to/conflicted-file       # this is probably the one you want git checkout --theirs -- /path/to/conflicted-file 

You can see the different versions using the :1:filename syntax. See here for an explanation. But all of the above assumes that 'git status' shows the files as needing a merge.

Finally, you always have the option of:

git reset --hard   # sounds like --hard is what you need but check other options