Getting Down to Business
2. The Git Merge Command
Okay, here comes the magic (or sometimes, the mildly terrifying). The command you'll use is `git merge`. But before you unleash its power, make sure you're on the branch you want to merge into. For example, if you want to merge your feature branch into the 'main' branch, you need to `git checkout main` first. Think of it like parking your car in the right spot before trying to attach a trailer.
Once you're on the right branch, the command is simple: `git merge your-feature-branch`. Git will then attempt to automatically integrate the changes from `your-feature-branch` into the current branch. Usually git can do it for you. However, conflicts are sometimes going to happen.
Git is pretty smart, but it's not psychic. When Git encounters conflicting changes — meaning the same lines of code were modified differently in both branches — it throws its hands up and says, "Help! I don't know which one to choose!" This is where you, the intelligent human, needs to step in. You will encounter that your code won't run properly after a merge. That is where you need to test and check again.
After the `git merge` command, carefully review the output in your terminal. It will tell you if there were any conflicts. If there weren't any conflicts, congratulations! You can now commit the merged changes with `git commit -m "Merged your-feature-branch"`. If there were conflicts, buckle up; we're about to dive into conflict resolution.
