What is a merge conflict?

A conflict during git merge is a situation where Git cannot automatically combine changes because the same parts of the code were changed in two branches.

In simple terms: Git does not know which version to pick, and asks a person to resolve it manually.

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#When a conflict occurs

A conflict appears if:

• in two branches
• the same lines of a file were changed
• after a common ancestor commit

Example:

• in the main branch, a line was changed to A
• in the feature branch, the same line was changed to B

Git cannot guess which one is correct.

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#What happens during a conflict

When you run:

Git:

1. stops the merge
2. marks the files as conflicted
3. shows a conflict message

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#What a conflict looks like in a file

In a conflicting file you will see something like:

• HEAD is the current branch
• below ======= are the changes from the other branch

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#What you need to do

1. Open the file
2. Choose the correct version or combine both
3. Remove the conflict markers (<<<<<<<, =======, >>>>>>>)
4. Save the file
5. Add the file to the index:

6. Finish the merge:

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#Important to understand

• a conflict is not an error
• Git deliberately stops so you do not lose data
• without a manual resolution the merge will not complete

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#A common interview question

Can conflicts be avoided?

Completely, no. But you can:

• pull main more often
• make small commits
• avoid working for a long time detached from the main branch

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#Short answer for an interview

A merge conflict occurs when Git cannot automatically combine changes from different branches because they touch the same parts of the code, and it requires manual intervention.