Resolving Conflicts

Conflicts are part of working with others. Learn to read conflict markers, choose between merge and rebase, and use VS Code's three-way merge tool.

conflictmergerebasethree-way

Duration

⏱ About 1.5 hours

Level

📊 Intermediate

Prerequisite

🎯 git-coop-01

OUTCOME

Resolve conflicts confidently without losing changes

What you'll learn

1Read <<<<<<<, =======, >>>>>>> conflict markers
2Resolve a merge conflict step by step
3Choose between merge and rebase intentionally
4Use VS Code's merge editor

1. What a Conflict Looks Like

text

<<<<<<< HEAD (current branch)
const greeting = "Hello, world!";
=======
const greeting = "Hi, world!";
>>>>>>> feature/branch

<<<<<<< HEAD — your current branch's version
======= — the divider
>>>>>>> branch-name — the incoming branch's version

2. Resolve

Open the conflicted file in your editor
Decide what to keep — yours, theirs, or a combination
Remove all conflict markers
git add <file>
git commit (merge commit message is auto-filled)

bash

git status                    # see conflicted files
git diff --name-only --diff-filter=U   # only conflicts
# ... edit each one ...
git add path/to/file
git commit

3. Merge vs Rebase

Strategy	Result	When
git merge	Creates a merge commit	Preserve history exactly; teamwork on shared branches
git rebase	Replays your commits on top of the base	Keep history linear; only on your own branch

⚠️

Never rebase a branch others have based work on — it rewrites history and breaks everyone else.

4. Tooling

VS Code shows "Accept Current / Incoming / Both" buttons inline
git mergetool — opens your configured merge tool
git rerere — remembers resolutions for similar future conflicts

Example code / lecture materials

All lecture materials and example code are openly available on GitHub.

View on GitHub ↗