Ours vs theirs in conflicts in Git - Practice Questions

Challenge - 5 Problems

🧠 Conceptual

intermediate

Understanding 'ours' and 'theirs' in Git merge conflicts

When resolving a merge conflict in Git, what does the term 'ours' refer to?

A The changes from the branch you are currently on (your working branch).

B The changes from the branch you are merging into your current branch.

C The changes from the remote repository's default branch.

D The changes from the last commit before the merge started.

💡 Hint

Think about which branch you have checked out when you start the merge.

'Ours' refers to the branch you currently have checked out, the branch you are merging into. 'Theirs' refers to the branch you are merging from.

💻 Command Output

intermediate

Output of choosing 'ours' during conflict resolution

You have a merge conflict in a file named app.js. You run the command git checkout --ours app.js followed by git add app.js. What will be the content of app.js after these commands?

A The content of <code>app.js</code> from the branch you are merging in.

B The content of <code>app.js</code> from your current branch before the merge.

C An empty file with conflict markers still present.

D The content of <code>app.js</code> from the last commit on the remote repository.

💡 Hint

'--ours' means to keep your current branch's version of the file.

The command git checkout --ours app.js replaces the conflicted file with the version from your current branch, discarding the incoming changes.

🔀 Workflow

advanced

Resolving conflicts preferring 'theirs' changes

You are merging a feature branch into your main branch and want to resolve all conflicts by accepting the changes from the feature branch (theirs). Which sequence of commands correctly achieves this for all conflicted files?

A git merge feature; git checkout --theirs .; git add .; git commit -m 'Resolved conflicts using theirs'

B git merge feature; git checkout --ours .; git add .; git commit -m 'Resolved conflicts using theirs'

C git merge feature; git revert --theirs; git add .; git commit -m 'Resolved conflicts using theirs'

D git merge feature; git reset --hard; git commit -m 'Resolved conflicts using theirs'

💡 Hint

Remember that --theirs means the branch you are merging in.

After starting the merge, git checkout --theirs . replaces all conflicted files with the incoming branch's versions. Then staging and committing completes the resolution.

❓ Troubleshoot

advanced

Error when using 'git checkout --theirs' on a non-conflicted file

You run git checkout --theirs README.md but get the error: error: pathspec 'README.md' did not match any files. What is the most likely cause?

A You have uncommitted changes in README.md preventing checkout.

B You are not inside a Git repository.

C The file README.md is ignored by .gitignore.

D The file README.md is not in conflict, so 'theirs' version does not exist.

💡 Hint

'--theirs' only works on files with merge conflicts.

The --theirs option only applies to files currently in conflict. If README.md is not conflicted, Git cannot find a 'theirs' version to check out.

✅ Best Practice

expert

Choosing between 'ours' and 'theirs' in a complex conflict scenario

During a complex merge conflict involving multiple files, you want to keep your current branch's changes for configuration files but accept incoming changes for source code files. Which approach best achieves this?

A Abort the merge and manually copy files from each branch outside Git, then commit.

B Use <code>git checkout --theirs</code> on all files, then manually revert config files after commit.

C Use <code>git checkout --ours</code> on config files and <code>git checkout --theirs</code> on source code files, then stage and commit.

D Use <code>git merge --strategy=ours</code> to keep all current branch changes.

💡 Hint

Selective checkout of 'ours' or 'theirs' per file allows fine control.

Using git checkout --ours on config files keeps your branch's versions, while git checkout --theirs on source files accepts incoming changes. Staging and committing finalizes the resolution.