Git: How do I return to the branch after fixing merge conflicts?

Question

Sometimes I will get a merge conflict when I git merge . I'll get the error:

Automatic merge failed; fix conflicts and then commit the result.

That's fine, and I fix the conflicts.

The problem is, once this happens, I seem to get kicked out of the branch I'm working on. Doing a git branch just shows me as on the develop branch.

If I try to check out the branch I was just working on I get an error

Please, commit your changes or stash them before you can switch branches.

If I try to commit or stash I get the error:

You are not on the correct branch.

The only way I can break out of this is to use git reset --hard HEAD which of course means I loose all my work.

Would anyone know why this is happening and what I can do?

Answer 1

1. git status to check your now status.

2. git diff to confirm that you fix conflicts correctly.

3. git add your files.

4. git commit .

   do your other jobs...

Answer 2

The only way I can break out of this is to use git reset --hard HEAD which of course means I loose all my work.

You're doing it wrong: use git merge --abort or git reset --merge if you want quit the current merge in progress.

Or finish the current merge as described by kagv. There is no third option... git has encountered a conflict and requires you to solve it manually. So fix it or reset to stable.

Note: when git detects a conflict (during a merge, rebase or cherry-pick action) you end up in such a special mode with limited functionality (such as preventing you from checking out a different revision...).