Currently we can use merge, overewrite and replace.
But Junos also has a "update" switch which does almost the same thing as "overwrite", but it does not re-parse any unchanged statements.
This is helpful if we want to periodically audit our devices to make sure no unauthorized (i.e. not approved, not vision controlled) changes is made. An "overwrite" re-parse all the statements even there is no change. This is a little bit too intrusive, i.e. reset BGP table age and re-learn all the routes.