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GIT-STASH(1) Git Manual GIT-STASH(1)
NAME
git-stash - Stash the changes in a dirty working directory away
SYNOPSIS
git stash list [<log-options>]
git stash show [-u | --include-untracked | --only-untracked] [<diff-options>] [<stash>]
git stash drop [-q | --quiet] [<stash>]
git stash pop [--index] [-q | --quiet] [<stash>]
git stash apply [--index] [-q | --quiet] [<stash>]
git stash branch <branchname> [<stash>]
git stash [push [-p | --patch] [-S | --staged] [-k | --[no-]keep-index] [-q | --quiet]
[-u | --include-untracked] [-a | --all] [(-m | --message) <message>]
[--pathspec-from-file=<file> [--pathspec-file-nul]]
[--] [<pathspec>...]]
git stash save [-p | --patch] [-S | --staged] [-k | --[no-]keep-index] [-q | --quiet]
[-u | --include-untracked] [-a | --all] [<message>]
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}).
COMMANDS
push [-p|--patch] [-S|--staged] [-k|--[no-]keep-index]
[-u|--include-untracked] [-a|--all] [-q|--quiet] [(-m|--message)
<message>] [--pathspec-from-file=<file> [--pathspec-file-nul]] [--]
[<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
pathspec elements, which are allowed after a double hyphen -- for
disambiguation.
list [<log-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 [-u|--include-untracked|--only-untracked] [<diff-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. 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). If
no <diff-option> is provided, the default behavior will be given by
the stash.showStat, and stash.showPatch config variables. You can
also use stash.showIncludeUntracked to set whether
--include-untracked is enabled by default.
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.
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>.
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>]
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.
OPTIONS
-a, --all
This option is only valid for push and save commands.
All ignored and untracked files are also stashed and then cleaned
up with git clean.
-u, --include-untracked, --no-include-untracked
When used with the push and save commands, all untracked files are
also stashed and then cleaned up with git clean.
When used with the show command, show the untracked files in the
stash entry as part of the diff.
--only-untracked
This option is only valid for the show command.
Show only the untracked files in the stash entry as part of the
diff.
--index
This option is only valid for pop and apply commands.
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).
-k, --keep-index, --no-keep-index
This option is only valid for push and save commands.
All changes already added to the index are left intact.
-p, --patch
This option is only valid for push and save commands.
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.
-S, --staged
This option is only valid for push and save commands.
Stash only the changes that are currently staged. This is similar
to basic git commit except the state is committed to the stash
Pathspec is passed in <file> instead of commandline args. If <file>
is exactly - then standard input is used. Pathspec elements are
separated by LF or CR/LF. Pathspec elements can be quoted as
explained for the configuration variable core.quotePath (see git-
config(1)). See also --pathspec-file-nul and global
--literal-pathspecs.
--pathspec-file-nul
This option is only valid for push command.
Only meaningful with --pathspec-from-file. Pathspec elements are
separated with NUL character and all other characters are taken
literally (including newlines and quotes).
-q, --quiet
This option is only valid for apply, drop, pop, push, save, store
commands.
Quiet, suppress feedback messages.
--
This option is only valid for push command.
Separates pathspec from options for disambiguation purposes.
<pathspec>...
This option is only valid for push command.
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.
For more details, see the pathspec entry in gitglossary(7).
<stash>
This option is only valid for apply, branch, drop, pop, show
commands.
A reference of the form stash@{<revision>}. When no <stash> is
given, the latest stash is assumed (that is, stash@{0}).
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
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'
Saving unrelated changes for future use
When you are in the middle of massive changes and you find some
unrelated issue that you don't want to forget to fix, you can do
the change(s), stage them, and use git stash push --staged to stash
them out for future use. This is similar to committing the staged
changes, only the commit ends-up being in the stash and not on the
$ git switch fixup-branch # switch to another branch
$ git stash pop # to finish work on the saved changes
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
CONFIGURATION
Everything below this line in this section is selectively included from
the git-config(1) documentation. The content is the same as what's
found there:
stash.showIncludeUntracked
If this is set to true, the git stash show command will show the
untracked files of a stash entry. Defaults to false. See
description of show command in git-stash(1).
stash.showPatch
If this is set to true, the git stash show command without an
option will show the stash entry in patch form. Defaults to false.
See description of show command in git-stash(1).
stash.showStat
If this is set to true, the git stash show command without an
option will show diffstat of the stash entry. Defaults to true. See
description of show command in git-stash(1).
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 2.42.0 2023-08-21 GIT-STASH(1)