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## Bringing a file up to date

When you want to update or merge a file, use the `update` command. For files that are not up to date this is roughly equivalent to a `checkout` command: the newest revision of the file is extracted from the repository and put in your working copy of the module.

Your modifications to a file are never lost when you use `update`. If no newer revision exists, running `update` has no effect. If you have edited the file, and a newer revision is available, CVS will merge all changes into your working copy.

For instance, imagine that you checked out revision 1.4 and started editing it. In the meantime someone else committed revision 1.5, and shortly after that revision 1.6. If you run `update` on the file now, CVS will incorporate all changes between revision 1.4 and 1.6 into your file.

If any of the changes between 1.4 and 1.6 were made too close to any of the changes you have made, an overlap occurs. In such cases a warning is printed, and the resulting file includes both versions of the lines that overlap, delimited by special markers. See section update--Bring work tree in sync with repository, for a complete description of the `update` command.

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