I'll create a short todo to track this task and then give step-by-step git commands (fish-friendly) for common scenarios: resolving merge conflicts by accepting incoming messages.po, replacing with versions from another branch, and verifying/committing the changes.

Starting (1/1) Provide git steps to replace messages.po files

Below are clear, fish-shell–compatible recipes for the different situations you might be in. Pick the one that matches your case.

Safety first (recommended)

• Make a quick branch backup so you can undo if something goes wrong:

git branch backup-messages-po-(date +%Y%m%d%H%M%S)

A) You're in a merge (or rebase) conflict and want to accept the incoming branch's (theirs) version of every messages.po

• This accepts the "incoming" side for any conflicted messages.po files, stages them, and lets you continue.

1. List conflicted messages.po (preview):

git ls-files -u | awk '{print $4}' | sort -u | grep 'messages.po' || echo 'No conflicted messages.po'

2. Checkout the incoming/theirs version for each such file and stage them:

for f in (git ls-files -u | awk '{print $4}' | sort -u | grep 'messages.po')
    git checkout --theirs -- $f
    git add $f
end

3. Continue the merge/rebase:

• If you were merging:

git commit -m "Resolve conflicts: accept incoming messages.po"

• If you were rebasing:

git rebase --continue

B) You want to replace all local messages.po files with the versions from another branch (for example upstream/main)

• This is useful when you want to overwrite your workspace copies with the ones from a branch/commit.

1. Preview which files will be replaced:

find . -name 'messages.po' -print

2. Replace them with the version from upstream/main and stage:

for f in (find . -name 'messages.po')
    git checkout upstream/main -- $f
    git add $f
end

3. Commit the replacements:

git commit -m "Replace messages.po with versions from upstream/main"

C) Replace with files from a specific commit or tag

• Replace from commit SHA abc1234:

for f in (find . -name 'messages.po')
    git checkout abc1234 -- $f
    git add $f
end
git commit -m "Replace messages.po with versions from abc1234"

D) If you want to accept the remote side during a git pull merge conflict in one command

• (Linux GNU xargs version) — runs only if there are conflicting files:

git ls-files -u | awk '{print $4}' | sort -u | grep 'messages.po' | xargs -r -I{} sh -c 'git checkout --theirs -- "{}" && git add "{}"'
git commit -m "Accept incoming messages.po"

(Note: fish doesn't change how xargs behaves; use the for loop above if you prefer pure-fish syntax.)

Verification

• Show the diff (staged vs HEAD):

git diff --staged --name-only | grep 'messages.po' || echo 'No staged messages.po'
git diff --staged path/to/some/messages.po | less

• Or list all modified messages.po files:

git status --porcelain | grep 'messages.po' || echo 'No changes to messages.po'

Notes & gotchas

• --theirs applies to the branch you are merging in (the incoming changes). During conflicts, "ours" is your current branch.
• If no files match a pattern, some xargs implementations will error; the fish for loop approach is robust.
• Always make a backup branch before mass-replacing files if you might want to revert.
• If you use git checkout <branch> -- <file> note that modern Git also offers git restore --source=<branch> -- <file>; both work. Example:

for f in (find . -name 'messages.po')
    git restore --source=upstream/main -- $f
    git add $f
end
git commit -m "Restore messages.po from upstream/main"

If you tell me which exact situation you’re in (merge conflict, you want files from a branch, a specific commit, or from a tarball/patch), I can produce the exact commands tailored to that case and, if you want, a one-liner script to run.