git - How Do Unmerged Paths in Index Occur -

in "git status" man page, there table describes meaning of xy status code when short-format or porcelain format used. specifically, table is:

x          y     meaning -------------------------------------------------           [md]   not updated m        [ md]   updated in index        [ md]   added index d         [ m]   deleted index r        [ md]   renamed in index c        [ md]   copied in index [marc]           index , work tree matches [ marc]     m    work tree changed since index [ marc]     d    deleted in work tree ------------------------------------------------- d           d    unmerged, both deleted           u    unmerged, added u           d    unmerged, deleted them u              unmerged, added them d           u    unmerged, deleted              unmerged, both added u           u    unmerged, both modified ------------------------------------------------- ?           ?    untracked !           !    ignored ------------------------------------------------- 

my question is, how 1 unmerged item in index occur (the x-column)?

my understanding of unmerged item when merge attempted there conflict between sources of merge, resulting file considered "unmerged". how such item make index if merging done between tree , working copy.

i think may have discovered answer own question. in git-status man page discusses short-format, there 2 lines missed:

"for paths merge conflicts, x , y show modification states of each side of merge. paths not have merge conflicts, x shows status of index, , y shows status of work tree."

so, seems, meaning of 2 columns changes depending on whether merge conflict detected or not. follow-on is indeed not possible have unmerged items in index.

i don't know how missed lines, but, did.