Git merge left HEAD marks in my files

Question

I tried to merge a file in the command line using Git, when an error message appeared telling me the merge was aborted.

I thought that was the end of it, but then I

Answer 1

Absolutely start with 'git status' to see what you've got. If you aborted a merge (or had a merge aborted) and you've got conflicted files in the working directory then something went wrong. The Git status will tell you where you are. After that, you have a number of options. You should resolve the merge commit either by-hand, which can be challenging, or using a tool as:

git mergetool

The merge tool will work if your files are listed as needing a merge.

You can also perform one of:

git checkout --ours -- /path/to/conflicted-file       # this is probably the one you want
git checkout --theirs -- /path/to/conflicted-file

You can see the different versions using the :1:filename syntax. See here for an explanation. But all of the above assumes that 'git status' shows the files as needing a merge.

Finally, you always have the option of:

git reset --hard   # sounds like --hard is what you need but check other options