Resolving Merge Conflicts in Visual Studio Code

Understanding Merge Conflicts

When working with Git and collaborating on projects, merge conflicts are a common occurrence. They arise when Git is unable to automatically combine changes from different branches, typically because the same lines of code have been modified in both branches. Visual Studio Code (VS Code) provides excellent tooling to help you identify and resolve these conflicts efficiently.

Identifying Merge Conflicts

VS Code visually highlights merge conflicts directly within the editor. When a conflict occurs, you’ll notice the following markers in the affected file:

• <<<<<<< HEAD: Marks the beginning of the conflicting section from your current branch.
• =======: Separates your changes from the incoming changes.
• >>>>>>> branch_name: Marks the end of the conflicting section from the incoming branch.

For example:

This is some code.
<<<<<<< HEAD
This is my change.
=======
This is their change.
>>>>>>> feature-branch
This is more code.

In this example, your branch contains "This is my change," while the feature-branch contains "This is their change." You need to decide which version to keep or create a combined version.

Resolving Conflicts with VS Code

VS Code offers several ways to resolve conflicts:

1. Visual Conflict Editor: Clicking on the conflict markers (e.g., <<<<<<< HEAD) opens a dedicated visual conflict editor. This editor displays your changes and the incoming changes side-by-side, making it easy to compare and combine them.

2. Accept Current Change/Accept Incoming Change/Accept Both: Within the visual conflict editor or above the conflict block (especially in newer VS Code versions), you’ll find options to:

   • Accept Current Change: Keeps your version and discards the incoming changes.
   • Accept Incoming Change: Keeps the incoming version and discards your changes.
   • Accept Both: Merges both changes, often requiring you to manually edit the resulting code.

3. Manual Editing: You can directly edit the code within the conflict markers to create a combined version that addresses the conflict. After editing, remove the conflict markers (<<<<<<< HEAD, =======, >>>>>>> branch_name).

4. Command Palette: Use the Command Palette (View -> Command Palette) and search for "Merge Conflict". VS Code provides commands like "Merge Conflict: Accept Incoming" or "Merge Conflict: Accept Current" which apply the selected action to the currently active conflict.

Staging and Committing Resolved Conflicts

After resolving all conflicts in a file, you must stage the file using the Source Control panel (View -> Source Control) or by running git add <filename> in the terminal. Staging tells Git that you’ve resolved the conflicts in that file.

Once all conflicted files are staged, you can commit the merge. VS Code will automatically provide a commit message related to the merge. You can edit this message as needed. Click the checkmark icon in the Source Control panel or run git commit in the terminal to complete the merge.

Using the Source Control Panel

The Source Control panel in VS Code is your central hub for managing Git changes, including resolving merge conflicts.

1. MERGE CHANGES Section: After a merge attempt with conflicts, the Source Control panel will display a "MERGE CHANGES" section, listing the files containing conflicts.

2. Double-Click to Open: Double-clicking on a file in the "MERGE CHANGES" section will open it with the conflict markers highlighted, allowing you to begin resolving the conflicts.

3. Staging Changes: After resolving conflicts in a file, you’ll see a + icon next to it in the "MERGE CHANGES" section, indicating it’s ready to be staged. Click the + icon to stage the file.