Handling Conflicts During Git Rebase

In the previous blog, we learned the basics of Git rebase. Now let’s explore what happens when conflicts occur during a rebase, and how to resolve or abort them.

Scenario Setup

We start with a project (project7) and the first commit:

echo "Hello" > hello.txt
git add hello.txt
git commit -m "Initial commit"

At this point, main has one commit with hello.txt.

Creating a Feature Branch

From the initial commit, create a feature branch:

git switch -C feature

Add some files and commit:

echo "file 1" > 1.txt
echo "file 2" > 2.txt
echo "file 3" > 3.txt
git add .
git commit -m "Add files 1, 2, 3"

echo "New line added in feature branch" >> hello.txt
git commit -am "Update hello.txt in feature branch"

Now feature has diverged from main.

Updating the Main Branch

On main, modify the same hello.txt:

git switch main
echo "Okay" >> hello.txt
git commit -am "Update hello.txt in main branch"

Now both branches modified hello.txt differently — a classic setup for a conflict.

Rebasing the Feature Branch

Switch back to feature and rebase onto main:

git switch feature
git rebase main

Conflict occurs:

CONFLICT (content): Merge conflict in hello.txt

Aborting the Rebase

If you don’t want to fix the conflict right now, abort:

git rebase --abort

This resets your branch to its state before the rebase began. Very useful when you want to postpone resolving conflicts.

Resolving the Conflict

Let’s try rebasing again:

git rebase main

Check status:

git status
# both modified: hello.txt

Open hello.txt:

Hello
<<<<<<< HEAD
Okay
=======
New line added in feature branch
>>>>>>> feature

Decide how to resolve it. For example, keep a clean file:

Hello
Okay
New line added in feature branch

Stage it:

git add hello.txt

Continuing the Rebase

Now continue the rebase:

git rebase --continue

Git will ask for a commit message:

Update hello.txt in feature branch

Save and exit (:wq).

Rebase is complete, and history has been rewritten. Now both main and feature share a linear history.

Summary

During rebase, conflicts occur if both branches edit the same file.
Use git rebase --abort to stop and reset to the pre-rebase state.
Resolve conflicts manually in files, then git add them.
Run git rebase --continue to finalize.
After rebase, history is rewritten to look linear.

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