What do the different columns (of letters) mean for the svn merge output?

Question

The output of SVN merge has 4 columns of letters listed before the file name. I understand the meaning of the letters (mostly) but I can't find any information on the meanings of the columns and so only have a vague understanding based on context. Can anyone point me to the documentation on this?

Based on context I've been able to infer that column:

1. Is about text changes to a file
2. Seems to be related to use of the svn ignore command on a folder (or maybe it's just properties of the file?)
3. I've never seen a letter in the third column and hence I have no idea what it means.
4. Might be tree conflicts? This is the one I'm mostly worried about because I don't know how to handle it yet.

Answer 1

James, I had the same issue - very frustrating not finding detailed "svn merge" info; however, in my google searches I found this posting: http://svn.haxx.se/users/archive-2008-06/0813.shtml

It indicates that the "svn merge" status letters are identical to the "svn update" status letters, which are actually documented. From the "svn help update" command:

For each updated item a line will start with a character reporting the action taken. These characters have the following meaning:

A  Added D  Deleted U  Updated C  Conflict G  Merged 

A character in the first column signifies an update to the actual file, while updates to the file's properties are shown in the second column. A 'B' in the third column signifies that the lock for the file has been broken or stolen.

Answer 2

Same information but from official source:

http://subversion.apache.org/docs/svn-merge.txt

  For each merged item a line will be printed with characters reporting the   action taken. These characters have the following meaning:      A  Added     D  Deleted     U  Updated     C  Conflict     G  Merged     E  Existed     R  Replaced    Characters in the first column report about the item itself.   Characters in the second column report about properties of the item.   A 'C' in the third column indicates a tree conflict, while a 'C' in   the first and second columns indicate textual conflicts in files   and in property values, respectively.