I ran into a merge conflict. How can I abort the m

Question

I used git pull and had a merge conflict:

unmerged:   _widget.html.erb

You are in the middle of a conflicted merge.

I know that the other version of the file is good and that mine is bad so all my changes should be abandoned. How can I do this?

Answer 1

Since your pull was unsuccessful then HEAD (not HEAD^) is the last "valid" commit on your branch:

git reset --hard HEAD

The other piece you want is to let their changes over-ride your changes.

Older versions of git allowed you to use the "theirs" merge strategy:

git pull --strategy=theirs remote_branch

But this has since been removed, as explained in this message by Junio Hamano (the Git maintainer). As noted in the link, instead you would do this:

git fetch origin
git reset --hard origin

Answer 2

If your git version is >= 1.6.1, you can use git reset --merge.

Also, as @Michael Johnson mentions, if your git version is >= 1.7.4, you can also use git merge --abort.

As always, make sure you have no uncommitted changes before you start a merge.

From the git merge man page

git merge --abort is equivalent to git reset --merge when MERGE_HEAD is present.

MERGE_HEAD is present when a merge is in progress.

Also, regarding uncommitted changes when starting a merge:

If you have changes you don't want to commit before starting a merge, just git stash them before the merge and git stash pop after finishing the merge or aborting it.

Answer 3

Since comments suggest that git reset --merge is an alias for git merge --abort, it is worth noticing that git merge --abort is only equivalent to git reset --merge given that a MERGE_HEAD is present. This can be read in the git help for merge command.

git merge --abort is equivalent to git reset --merge when MERGE_HEAD is present.

After a failed merge, when there is no MERGE_HEAD, the failed merge can be undone with git reset --merge but not necessarily with git merge --abort, so they are not only old and new syntax for the same thing.

Personally I find git reset --merge much more powerful for scenarios similar to the described one, and failed merges in general.

Answer 4

I found the following worked for me (revert a single file to pre-merge state):

git reset *currentBranchIntoWhichYouMerged* -- *fileToBeReset*

Answer 5

Its so simple.

git merge --abort

Git itself shows you the solution when you are in this type of trouble and run the git status command.

git status

Hope this will help people.

Answer 6

Since Git 1.6.1.3 git checkout has been able to checkout from either side of a merge:

git checkout --theirs _widget.html.erb