Cannot checkout, file is unmerged

Question

I am trying to remove the file from my working directory but after using the following command

git checkout file_Name.txt

I got the following error message

error: path 'first_Name.txt' is unmerged

What is that and how to resolve it?

Following is my git status

$ git status
On branch master
You are currently reverting commit f200bf5.
  (fix conflicts and run "git revert --continue")
  (use "git revert --abort" to cancel the revert operation)

Unmerged paths:
  (use "git reset HEAD <file>..." to unstage)
  (use "git add <file>..." to mark resolution)

        both modified:      first_file.txt

Untracked files:
  (use "git add <file>..." to include in what will be committed)

        explore_california/

no changes added to commit (use "git add" and/or "git commit -a")

That moved to the staging index but i am not able to clean the folder explore_california/ — Naseer, Mar 13 '14 at 17:57
If you want to delete `explore_california` then just do a `rm -r explore_california` since it is not being tracked by git. — brokenfoot, Mar 13 '14 at 17:59
What that did is asking me to remove more than 50 files individually and i m still pressing y? — Naseer, Mar 13 '14 at 18:02
@khan: See this link on why it asks for your permission to delete files: http://superuser.com/questions/345923/remove-file-without-asking — brokenfoot, Mar 13 '14 at 19:17
Possible duplicate of [Git: can't undo local changes (error: path ... is unmerged)](http://stackoverflow.com/questions/3021161/git-cant-undo-local-changes-error-path-is-unmerged) — Stewart, Apr 04 '17 at 10:09
The reason is somehow you moved this file to staging (like running `git add first_Name.txt`) it needs to be unstaged before checked out. So easily run `git reset first_Name.txt` then you run `git checkout first_Name.txt` Expect the changes are reverted. — Halil Kayer, Oct 28 '21 at 08:25

score 198 · Answer 1 · answered Aug 10 '15 at 21:39

198

If you want to discard modifications you made to the file, you can do:

git reset first_Name.txt
git checkout first_Name.txt

answered Aug 10 '15 at 21:39

cristianoms

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2

Needs the double hyphen arg? git reset -- first_name.txt and git checkout -- first_name.txt – demented hedgehog Jun 03 '18 at 23:56
3

You only use the `--` to separate the tree you want to check out from the files you want to check out. To a more in depth explanation, take a loot here: https://stackoverflow.com/questions/13321458/meaning-of-git-checkout-double-dashes – cristianoms Sep 17 '18 at 20:12
7

I think it's safer to use the double-hyphen `git reset -- first_Name.txt` and `git checkout -- first_Name.txt` just in case the filename is the same as one of your branches/tags/commits. – joeytwiddle Dec 09 '19 at 07:08

score 36 · Accepted Answer · answered Mar 13 '14 at 19:09

36

To remove tracked files (first_file.txt) from git:

git rm first_file.txt

And to remove untracked files, use:

rm -r explore_california

answered Mar 13 '14 at 19:09

brokenfoot

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Mahesh Hegde · Answer 3 · 2023-01-13T07:36:41.353

31

Following worked for me

git reset HEAD

I was getting the bellow error

git stash
src/config.php: needs merge
src/config.php: needs merge
src/config.php: unmerge(230a02b5bf1c6eab8adce2cec8d573822d21241d)
src/config.php: unmerged (f5cc88c0fda69bf72107bcc5c2860c3e5eb978fa)

Then i ran

git reset HEAD

it worked

edited Jan 13 '23 at 07:36

answered Dec 13 '17 at 07:18

Mahesh Hegde

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score 20 · Answer 4 · answered Dec 03 '14 at 23:14

20

status tell you what to do.

Unmerged paths:
  (use "git reset HEAD <file>..." to unstage)
  (use "git add <file>..." to mark resolution)

you probably applied a stash or something else that cause a conflict.

either add, reset, or rm.

answered Dec 03 '14 at 23:14

gcb

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Exactly I applied a stash. Now the question is when to use `add`, when `reset` and when do I use `rm`? For example, I don't want to keep the stashed version but the version from upstream instead? – Pro Backup Aug 28 '18 at 15:16

steven · Answer 5 · 2015-05-15T12:08:13.577

4

I don't think execute

 git rm first_file.txt

is a good idea.

when git notice your files is unmerged, you should ensure you had committed it.
And then open the conflict file:

cat first_file.txt
fix the conflict

4.

git add file

git commit -m "fix conflict"

5. git push

it should works for you.

edited May 15 '15 at 12:08

answered May 06 '15 at 02:33

steven

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score 1 · Answer 6 · answered Mar 26 '21 at 13:09

1

Step 1:

git stash -u

Step 2:

git stash drop stash@{1}

Step 3:

git checkout .

answered Mar 26 '21 at 13:09

Liam_1998

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score 0 · Answer 7 · answered Aug 10 '18 at 17:22

0

In my case, I found that I need the -f option. Such as the following:

git rm -f first_file.txt

to get rid of the "needs merge" error.

answered Aug 10 '18 at 17:22

alant

82
7

score 0 · Answer 8 · answered Aug 31 '20 at 04:12

0

i resolved by doing below 2 easy steps :

step 1: git reset Head step 2: git add .

answered Aug 31 '20 at 04:12

kallayya Hiremath

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tangyongjun · Answer 9 · 2022-09-30T10:47:42.177

0

It works for me.

It will recover file from curreny HEAD

    git restore -S -W file_Name.txt

edited Sep 30 '22 at 10:47

answered Sep 30 '22 at 10:46

tangyongjun

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Cannot checkout, file is unmerged

9 Answers9