title: run git merge algorithm on two individual files
body: <p>I want to take advantage of the git-merge algorithm on two arbitrary files in a git repo. Here is my working directory:</p>
  
  <pre><code>folder/
      file1
      file2
  </code></pre>
  
  <p>file1 and file2 are similar, but I want to see how git would merge them as if they were different versions of the same file. In other words, I want something like this:</p>
  
  <pre><code>git merge-files file1 file2 &gt; merge_of_file1_file2
  </code></pre>
  
  <p>Is there a way to do this?</p>