Merging Defined

Related Topics:

Resolving Differences Between Files Using Merging

Merging Window

When you want to resolve the differences between different versions of the same file, use the Merging tool.

The Merging window is divided into three panes: two side-by-side panes, which display different versions of the file, and the merged result in the bottom pane.

Merging automatically includes the lines that are common to both files in the bottom pane. The lines that differ are highlighted, and it is your job to determine how you want to incorporate the changes in the merged file. You can simply click to accept a difference in one of the two side-by-side panes and move it to the merged file. You can also edit the merged version and save it as an output file.

The basic steps of merging are:

4. Load the versions of the file for side-by-side comparision.

5. For each difference, select a line from either of the two files, or edit the difference yourself.

6. Save the merged file.

Merging operates on differences between files. At the time you load the two files to be merged, you can also specify a third file, the ancestor of the two files. When you have specified an ancestor file, Merging marks lines in the descendants that are different from the ancestor. This is called a three-way merge.

Text navigation options let you search for a given text string, display the current line number, and go to a specific line in a file. See Navigate Menu. The Options Menu in the Merging window lets you control the display of the files in the Merging window. See Options Menu. The Resolve tab of the Tool Properties window enables you to change the defaults for automatic merging. See Resolve Options Tab.