Git error on commit after merge - fatal: cannot do a partial commit during a merge -

i ran git pull ended in conflict. resolved conflict , fine (i used mergetool also).

when commit resolved file git commit file.php -m "message" error:

fatal: cannot partial commit during merge. 

i had same issue before , using -a in commit worked perfectly. think it's not perfect way because don't want commit changes. want commit files separately separate comments. how can that? why doesn't git allow users commit files separately after merge? not find satisfactory answer problem.

i found adding "-i" commit command fixes problem me. -i tells stage additional files before committing. is:

git commit -i myfile.php