How to create a new Git stash

Introduction

Git stash is a powerful feature in the Git version control system that allows you to temporarily save your local changes and switch between different branches without losing your work. In this tutorial, you will learn how to create a new Git stash, apply and manage your stashed changes, and explore the benefits of using Git stashes for efficient branch management.

Skills Graph

Understanding Git Stash

Git stash is a powerful feature in Git that allows you to temporarily save your local changes without committing them. This is particularly useful when you need to switch between different tasks or branches, but you don't want to lose the work you've done.

When you stash your changes, Git creates a new stash entry that contains the state of your working directory and index at the time of the stash. You can then apply the stash later, either to the current branch or to a different branch.

The main use cases for Git stash include:

1. Switching Branches: When you need to switch to a different branch, but you have local changes that you don't want to commit yet, you can stash your changes and apply them later.

2. Experimenting with Changes: If you're working on a feature and want to try something new without losing your current work, you can stash your changes, experiment, and then apply the stash later.

3. Cleaning Up Your Working Directory: If you have a lot of untracked or modified files in your working directory, you can stash them to clean up your workspace before performing other Git operations.

4. Collaborating with Others: When working on a shared repository, you may need to pull the latest changes from the remote, but you have local changes that you don't want to commit. In this case, you can stash your changes, pull the latest updates, and then apply the stash.

To use Git stash, you can run the following commands:

## Stash your current changes
git stash

## List all the stashes
git stash list

## Apply the most recent stash
git stash apply

## Apply a specific stash
git stash apply stash@{n}

## Drop the most recent stash
git stash drop

## Apply a stash and then drop it
git stash pop

By understanding the basics of Git stash, you can effectively manage your local changes and switch between different tasks or branches without losing your work.

Creating a New Git Stash

To create a new Git stash, you can use the git stash command. This command will save your current changes, including both staged and unstaged modifications, in a new stash entry.

Here's how you can create a new Git stash:

## Create a new stash
git stash

When you run this command, Git will save your current changes and display a message similar to the following:

Saved working directory and index state WIP on master: 1a2b3c4 Commit message

This message indicates that a new stash entry has been created, and it provides some information about the stash, such as the branch name, the commit hash, and the commit message.

You can also provide a custom message when creating a new stash by using the -m or --message option:

## Create a new stash with a custom message
git stash -m "My custom stash message"

This will create a new stash entry with the custom message you provided.

If you have untracked files in your working directory, you can include them in the stash by using the -u or --include-untracked option:

## Create a new stash including untracked files
git stash -u

This will save both your staged and unstaged changes, as well as any untracked files, in the new stash entry.

By creating a new Git stash, you can temporarily save your local changes and switch to a different task or branch without losing your work. You can then apply the stash later when you're ready to continue working on the original task.

Applying and Managing Git Stashes

Applying a Git Stash

After you've created one or more Git stashes, you can apply them to your current branch. There are two main ways to apply a stash:

1. Apply the most recent stash:

   git stash apply

   This will apply the changes from the most recent stash to your current working directory and index.

2. Apply a specific stash:

   git stash apply stash@{n}

   Replace n with the index of the stash you want to apply, as shown in the output of git stash list.

When you apply a stash, Git will try to merge the stashed changes with your current working directory. If there are any conflicts, you'll need to resolve them manually.

Managing Git Stashes

In addition to applying stashes, you can also manage your stash list using the following commands:

1. List all stashes:

   git stash list

   This will display a list of all the stashes you've created, along with their index and a brief description.

2. Drop the most recent stash:

   git stash drop

   This will remove the most recent stash from the stash list.

3. Drop a specific stash:

   git stash drop stash@{n}

   Replace n with the index of the stash you want to drop.

4. Apply a stash and then drop it:

   git stash pop

   This will apply the most recent stash and then remove it from the stash list.

5. Clear all stashes:

   git stash clear

   This will remove all the stashes from the stash list.

By managing your Git stashes effectively, you can keep your working directory clean and organized, and easily switch between different tasks or branches without losing your work.

Summary

By the end of this tutorial, you will have a solid understanding of how to create and manage Git stashes, enabling you to effectively save and restore your local changes as you navigate through different branches in your Git repository. Mastering Git stash will help you streamline your development workflow and maintain a clean, organized codebase.