How to merge specific files from Git branches

Question

I have 2 git branches branch1 and branch2 and I want to merge file.py in branch2 into file.py in branch1 and only that file.

In essence I just want to work on the fi

Answer 1

Although not a merge per se, sometimes the entire contents of another file on another branch are needed. Jason Rudolph's blog post provides a simple way to copy files from one branch to another. Apply the technique as follows:

$ git checkout branch1 # ensure in branch1 is checked out and active
$ git checkout branch2 file.py

Now file.py is now in branch1.