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Resolve merge conflicts

Learn why conflicts happen and how to resolve them.

Step 1: Resolve a merge conflict

Welcome to "Managing Merge Conflicts"! 👋

What is a merge conflict?: A merge conflict occurs when changes are made to the same part of the same file on two different branches. You usually find out about conflicts in a pull request.

This can be intimidating, but have no fear, Git is smart when it comes to merging! Git only needs a human to decide how to resolve the conflict. Sometimes, the best way to resolve a merge conflict is to add content that's from both branches, or even something that isn't on either! This is why Git needs a human to look at the code and make the proper fixes.

⌨️ Activity: Resolve a merge conflict

  1. Open a new browser tab, and work on the steps in your second tab while you read the instructions in this tab.
  2. Open the pull request we made for you. We also made a conflict. Have no fear!
  3. At the bottom of the page, under "This branch has conflicts that must be resolved", click the Resolve conflicts button.
  4. Look for the highlighted sections that begins with <<<<<<< my-resume and ends with >>>>>>> main. These markers are added by Git to show you the content that is in conflict.
  5. Remove the changes made on the main branch by deleting all of the content below the ======= and above >>>>>>> main.
  6. Next, remove the merge conflict markers by deleting the following lines: 
    <<<<<<< my-resume
=======
>>>>>>> main
  7. With the merge conflict markers removed, click Mark as resolved.
  8. Finally, click Commit merge.
  9. Wait about 20 seconds then refresh this page for the next step.

Step 2: Create your own conflict

Good job! You've solved a merge conflict! 🎉

Resolving a conflict doesn't automatically merge the pull request in GitHub. Instead, it stores the resolution of the conflict in a merge commit and allows you and your team to keep working. To resolve a conflict, GitHub performs what is known as a reverse merge. This means that the changes from the main branch were merged into your my-resume branch. With a reverse merge, only the my-resume branch is updated. This allows you to test the resolved changes on your branch before you merge it into main.

Now, let's get a little evil. (It's for educational purposes!)

⌨️ Activity: Create your own conflict

We went ahead and added a new file called references.md and pushed that change to main, without updating your my-resume branch.

  1. Browse to the my-resume branch.
  2. Click the Add file dropdown menu and then on Create new file.
  3. Create a file named references.md.
  4. Enter some text that conflicts with what we added for references.md in the main branch.
  5. Scroll to the bottom of the page and enter a commit message for your change.
  6. Click the Commit new file button, making sure the "Commit directly to the my-resume branch" option is selected.
  7. Wait about 20 seconds then refresh this page for the next step.

Step 3: Merge your pull request

Almost there! ❤️

You can now merge your pull request!

⌨️ Activity: Merge your pull request

  1. First, resolve any remaining conflicts in your pull request.

    Look back at step one if you need help.

  2. Click Merge pull request.
  3. Delete the branch my-resume (optional).
  4. Wait about 20 seconds then refresh this page for the next step.

Finish

Congratulations friend, you've completed this course!

celebrate

Here's a recap of all the tasks you've accomplished in your repository:

  • You learned why merge conflicts happen.
  • You resolved a simple merge conflict.
  • You created a merge conflict, and resolved it!

What's next?

Get help: Post in our discussion board • Review the GitHub status page

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