git-stash

GIT-STASH(1)                      Git Manual                      GIT-STASH(1)

NAME
       git-stash - Stash the changes in a dirty working directory away

SYNOPSIS
       git stash list [<options>]
       git stash show [<options>] [<stash>]
       git stash drop [-q|--quiet] [<stash>]
       git stash ( pop | apply ) [--index] [-q|--quiet] [<stash>]
       git stash branch <branchname> [<stash>]
       git stash [push [-p|--patch] [-k|--[no-]keep-index] [-q|--quiet]
                    [-u|--include-untracked] [-a|--all] [-m|--message <message>]
                    [--] [<pathspec>...]]
       git stash clear
       git stash create [<message>]
       git stash store [-m|--message <message>] [-q|--quiet] <commit>

DESCRIPTION
       Use git stash when you want to record the current state of the working
       directory and the index, but want to go back to a clean working
       directory. The command saves your local modifications away and reverts
       the working directory to match the HEAD commit.

       The modifications stashed away by this command can be listed with git
       stash list, inspected with git stash show, and restored (potentially on
       top of a different commit) with git stash apply. Calling git stash
       without any arguments is equivalent to git stash push. A stash is by
       default listed as "WIP on branchname ...", but you can give a more
       descriptive message on the command line when you create one.

       The latest stash you created is stored in refs/stash; older stashes are
       found in the reflog of this reference and can be named using the usual
       reflog syntax (e.g. stash@{0} is the most recently created stash,
       stash@{1} is the one before it, stash@{2.hours.ago} is also possible).
       Stashes may also be referenced by specifying just the stash index (e.g.
       the integer n is equivalent to stash@{n}).

OPTIONS
       push [-p|--patch] [-k|--[no-]keep-index] [-u|--include-untracked]
       [-a|--all] [-q|--quiet] [-m|--message <message>] [--] [<pathspec>...]
           Save your local modifications to a new stash entry and roll them
           back to HEAD (in the working tree and in the index). The <message>
           part is optional and gives the description along with the stashed
           state.

           For quickly making a snapshot, you can omit "push". In this mode,
           non-option arguments are not allowed to prevent a misspelled
           subcommand from making an unwanted stash entry. The two exceptions
           to this are stash -p which acts as alias for stash push -p and
           pathspecs, which are allowed after a double hyphen -- for
           disambiguation.

           When pathspec is given to git stash push, the new stash entry
           records the modified states only for the files that match the
           pathspec. The index entries and working tree files are then rolled
           back to the state in HEAD only for these files, too, leaving files
           that do not match the pathspec intact.

           If the --keep-index option is used, all changes already added to
           the index are left intact.

           If the --include-untracked option is used, all untracked files are
           also stashed and then cleaned up with git clean, leaving the
           working directory in a very clean state. If the --all option is
           used instead then the ignored files are stashed and cleaned in
           addition to the untracked files.

           With --patch, you can interactively select hunks from the diff
           between HEAD and the working tree to be stashed. The stash entry is
           constructed such that its index state is the same as the index
           state of your repository, and its worktree contains only the
           changes you selected interactively. The selected changes are then
           rolled back from your worktree. See the "Interactive Mode" section
           of git-add(1) to learn how to operate the --patch mode.

           The --patch option implies --keep-index. You can use
           --no-keep-index to override this.

       save [-p|--patch] [-k|--[no-]keep-index] [-u|--include-untracked]
       [-a|--all] [-q|--quiet] [<message>]
           This option is deprecated in favour of git stash push. It differs
           from "stash push" in that it cannot take pathspecs. Instead, all
           non-option arguments are concatenated to form the stash message.

       list [<options>]
           List the stash entries that you currently have. Each stash entry is
           listed with its name (e.g.  stash@{0} is the latest entry,
           stash@{1} is the one before, etc.), the name of the branch that was
           current when the entry was made, and a short description of the
           commit the entry was based on.

               stash@{0}: WIP on submit: 6ebd0e2... Update git-stash documentation
               stash@{1}: On master: 9cc0589... Add git-stash

           The command takes options applicable to the git log command to
           control what is shown and how. See git-log(1).

       show [<options>] [<stash>]
           Show the changes recorded in the stash entry as a diff between the
           stashed contents and the commit back when the stash entry was first
           created. When no <stash> is given, it shows the latest one. By
           default, the command shows the diffstat, but it will accept any
           format known to git diff (e.g., git stash show -p stash@{1} to view
           the second most recent entry in patch form). You can use
           stash.showStat and/or stash.showPatch config variables to change
           the default behavior.

       pop [--index] [-q|--quiet] [<stash>]
           Remove a single stashed state from the stash list and apply it on
           top of the current working tree state, i.e., do the inverse
           operation of git stash push. The working directory must match the
           index.

           Applying the state can fail with conflicts; in this case, it is not
           removed from the stash list. You need to resolve the conflicts by
           hand and call git stash drop manually afterwards.

           If the --index option is used, then tries to reinstate not only the
           working tree's changes, but also the index's ones. However, this
           can fail, when you have conflicts (which are stored in the index,
           where you therefore can no longer apply the changes as they were
           originally).

           When no <stash> is given, stash@{0} is assumed, otherwise <stash>
           must be a reference of the form stash@{<revision>}.

       apply [--index] [-q|--quiet] [<stash>]
           Like pop, but do not remove the state from the stash list. Unlike
           pop, <stash> may be any commit that looks like a commit created by
           stash push or stash create.

       branch <branchname> [<stash>]
           Creates and checks out a new branch named <branchname> starting
           from the commit at which the <stash> was originally created,
           applies the changes recorded in <stash> to the new working tree and
           index. If that succeeds, and <stash> is a reference of the form
           stash@{<revision>}, it then drops the <stash>. When no <stash> is
           given, applies the latest one.

           This is useful if the branch on which you ran git stash push has
           changed enough that git stash apply fails due to conflicts. Since
           the stash entry is applied on top of the commit that was HEAD at
           the time git stash was run, it restores the originally stashed
           state with no conflicts.

       clear
           Remove all the stash entries. Note that those entries will then be
           subject to pruning, and may be impossible to recover (see Examples
           below for a possible strategy).

       drop [-q|--quiet] [<stash>]
           Remove a single stash entry from the list of stash entries. When no
           <stash> is given, it removes the latest one. i.e.  stash@{0},
           otherwise <stash> must be a valid stash log reference of the form
           stash@{<revision>}.

       create
           Create a stash entry (which is a regular commit object) and return
           its object name, without storing it anywhere in the ref namespace.
           This is intended to be useful for scripts. It is probably not the
           command you want to use; see "push" above.

       store
           Store a given stash created via git stash create (which is a
           dangling merge commit) in the stash ref, updating the stash reflog.
           This is intended to be useful for scripts. It is probably not the
           command you want to use; see "push" above.

DISCUSSION
       A stash entry is represented as a commit whose tree records the state
       of the working directory, and its first parent is the commit at HEAD
       when the entry was created. The tree of the second parent records the
       state of the index when the entry is made, and it is made a child of
       the HEAD commit. The ancestry graph looks like this:

                  .----W
                 /    /
           -----H----I

       where H is the HEAD commit, I is a commit that records the state of the
       index, and W is a commit that records the state of the working tree.

EXAMPLES
       Pulling into a dirty tree
           When you are in the middle of something, you learn that there are
           upstream changes that are possibly relevant to what you are doing.
           When your local changes do not conflict with the changes in the
           upstream, a simple git pull will let you move forward.

           However, there are cases in which your local changes do conflict
           with the upstream changes, and git pull refuses to overwrite your
           changes. In such a case, you can stash your changes away, perform a
           pull, and then unstash, like this:

               $ git pull
                ...
               file foobar not up to date, cannot merge.
               $ git stash
               $ git pull
               $ git stash pop

       Interrupted workflow
           When you are in the middle of something, your boss comes in and
           demands that you fix something immediately. Traditionally, you
           would make a commit to a temporary branch to store your changes
           away, and return to your original branch to make the emergency fix,
           like this:

               # ... hack hack hack ...
               $ git switch -c my_wip
               $ git commit -a -m "WIP"
               $ git switch master
               $ edit emergency fix
               $ git commit -a -m "Fix in a hurry"
               $ git switch my_wip
               $ git reset --soft HEAD^
               # ... continue hacking ...

           You can use git stash to simplify the above, like this:

               # ... hack hack hack ...
               $ git stash
               $ edit emergency fix
               $ git commit -a -m "Fix in a hurry"
               $ git stash pop
               # ... continue hacking ...

       Testing partial commits
           You can use git stash push --keep-index when you want to make two
           or more commits out of the changes in the work tree, and you want
           to test each change before committing:

               # ... hack hack hack ...
               $ git add --patch foo            # add just first part to the index
               $ git stash push --keep-index    # save all other changes to the stash
               $ edit/build/test first part
               $ git commit -m 'First part'     # commit fully tested change
               $ git stash pop                  # prepare to work on all other changes
               # ... repeat above five steps until one commit remains ...
               $ edit/build/test remaining parts
               $ git commit foo -m 'Remaining parts'

       Recovering stash entries that were cleared/dropped erroneously
           If you mistakenly drop or clear stash entries, they cannot be
           recovered through the normal safety mechanisms. However, you can
           try the following incantation to get a list of stash entries that
           are still in your repository, but not reachable any more:

               git fsck --unreachable |
               grep commit | cut -d\  -f3 |
               xargs git log --merges --no-walk --grep=WIP

SEE ALSO
       git-checkout(1), git-commit(1), git-reflog(1), git-reset(1), git-
       switch(1)

GIT
       Part of the git(1) suite

Git 2.25.1                        04/26/2023                      GIT-STASH(1)