How to resolve a merge conflict when pushing to main?

[monukodasseri-wq]

Hello! I am trying to merge my feature branch into main. However, Git is giving me a merge conflict error.

Could someone explain the exact steps to resolve the conflict? Do I edit the files manually to remove the <<<<<<< HEAD and >>>>>>> markers, and what do I do after that?

[muhammedadnank]

Merge conflicts happen when Git cannot automatically reconcile differences between two branches. Here are the step-by-step instructions to resolve them:

Step 1: Identify the conflicted files

When you run a merge command (like git merge feature-branch) and get a conflict, Git will output which files have conflicts. You can also run:

git status

Conflicted files will be listed under "Unmerged paths".

Step 2: Open and edit the conflicted files

Open the conflicted files in a code editor. You will see conflict markers injected by Git:

• <<<<<<< HEAD (This marks the start of the changes from the current branch you are on, usually main)
• ======= (This divides the changes)
• >>>>>>> feature-branch (This marks the end of the changes from the branch you are merging in)

To resolve:

1. Manually edit the file to keep the version you want, or combine both.
2. Remove the conflict markers (<<<<<<< HEAD, =======, and >>>>>>> branch-name) completely.

Step 3: Stage and commit the resolved files

Once the file is cleaned up and saved, tell Git you have resolved the conflict:

git add <filename>

After staging all resolved files, complete the merge by creating a commit:

git commit -m "merge: resolve conflicts with feature-branch"

Now you are ready to push your clean merge to GitHub!