GIT-STASH(1)GIT-STASH(1)NAMEgit-stash - Stash the changes in a dirty working directory away
SYNOPSIS
git stash list [<options>]
git stash show [<stash>]
git stash drop [-q|--quiet] [<stash>]
git stash ( pop | apply ) [--index] [-q|--quiet] [<stash>]
git stash branch <branchname> [<stash>]
git stash [save [--patch] [-k|--[no-]keep-index] [-q|--quiet] [<message>]]
git stash clear
git stash create
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 direc-
tory. 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 save. 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 possi-
ble).
OPTIONS
save [--patch] [--[no-]keep-index] [-q|--quiet] [<message>]
Save your local modifications to a new stash, and run git reset
--hard to revert them. The <message> part is optional and gives
the description along with the stashed state. For quickly making
a snapshot, you can omit both "save" and <message>, but giving
only <message> does not trigger this action to prevent a mis-
spelled subcommand from making an unwanted stash.
If the --keep-index option is used, all changes already added to
the index are left intact.
With --patch, you can interactively select hunks from in 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.
1
GIT-STASH(1)GIT-STASH(1)
The --patch option implies --keep-index. You can use
--no-keep-index to override this.
list [<options>]
List the stashes that you currently have. Each stash is listed
with its name (e.g. stash@\{0} is the latest stash, stash@\{1}
is the one before, etc.), the name of the branch that was cur-
rent when the stash was made, and a short description of the
commit the stash was based on.
.ft C
stash@{0}: WIP on submit: 6ebd0e2... Update git-stash documentation
stash@{1}: On master: 9cc0589... Add git-stash
.ft
The command takes options applicable to the git log command to
control what is shown and how. See git-log(1).
show [<stash>]
Show the changes recorded in the stash as a diff between the
stashed state and its original parent. When no <stash> is given,
shows the latest one. By default, the command shows the diffs-
tat, but it will accept any format known to git diff (e.g., git
stash show -p stash@\{1} to view the second most recent stash in
patch form).
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 save. 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 con-
flicts 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>}.
2
GIT-STASH(1)GIT-STASH(1)
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 save 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 save has
changed enough that git stash apply fails due to conflicts.
Since the stash 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 stashed states. Note that those states 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 stashed state from the stash list. When no
<stash> is given, it removes the latest one. i.e. stash@\{0},
otherwise <stash> must a valid stash log reference of the form
stash@\{<revision>}.
create Create a stash (which is a regular commit object) and return its
object name, without storing it anywhere in the ref namespace.
DISCUSSION
A stash 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
stash was created. The tree of the second parent records the state of
the index when the stash 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.
3
GIT-STASH(1)GIT-STASH(1)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:
.ft C
$ git pull
...
file foobar not up to date, cannot merge.
$ git stash
$ git pull
$ git stash pop
.ft
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:
.ft C
# ... hack hack hack ...
$ git checkout -b my_wip
$ git commit -a -m "WIP"
$ git checkout master
$ edit emergency fix
$ git commit -a -m "Fix in a hurry"
$ git checkout my_wip
$ git reset --soft HEAD^
# ... continue hacking ...
.ft
You can use git stash to simplify the above, like this:
.ft C
4
GIT-STASH(1)GIT-STASH(1)
# ... hack hack hack ...
$ git stash
$ edit emergency fix
$ git commit -a -m "Fix in a hurry"
$ git stash pop
# ... continue hacking ...
.ft
Testing partial commits
You can use git stash save --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:
.ft C
# ... hack hack hack ...
$ git add --patch foo # add just first part to the index
$ git stash save --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'
.ft
Recovering stashes that were cleared/dropped erroneously
If you mistakenly drop or clear stashes, they cannot be recov-
ered through the normal safety mechanisms. However, you can try
the following incantation to get a list of stashes that are
still in your repository, but not reachable any more:
.ft C
git fsck --unreachable |
grep commit | cut -d\ -f3 |
xargs git log --merges --no-walk --grep=WIP
.ft
SEE ALSOgit-checkout(1), git-commit(1), git-reflog(1), git-reset(1)
5
GIT-STASH(1)GIT-STASH(1)AUTHOR
Written by Nanako Shiraishi <nanako3@bluebottle.com:
mailto:nanako3@bluebottle.com>
GIT
Part of the git(1) suite
6
