How to Stash Git Changes

There are times when you need to switch branches to work on another project. The git stash command comes to the rescue. It is used to stash the dirty state of the working directory and saves it on a stack of incomplete changes that can be re-applied later.

Steps to stashing changes

Let’s see what commands are required for stashing your changes:

Displaying the state

First, run git status to see the current state:

git status to see dirty state

git status

Stashing Your Work

Run <kbd class="highlighted">git stash</kbd> to stash the changes:

git stash the changes

git stash

The <kbd class="highlighted">git stash</kbd> command can also be used to create multiple stashes. Use git stash list to view them. The code looks like this:

git stash create multiple stashes

git stash list

Re-applying Your Changed Stashes

Run git stash pop to remove the changes from your stash and re-apply them to your working copy.

remove changes from your stash and re-apply to working copy

git stash pop

Run git stash apply if you want to re-apply the changes and keep them in your stash:

reapply the changes and keep them in the stash

git stash apply

Stashing Changed Stages

If you want to restore the index state along with the working directory changes, use the <kbd class="highlighted">git stash apply</kbd> command with the --index option:

git stash apply with --index option

git stash apply --index

Cleaning up Stashes

Run git stash drop with the name of the stash to remove it:

stash drop to remove a specific stash

git stash drop <stash_name>

Un-applying a Stash

If you want to un-apply the most recent stash, use the following:

cancel the most recent stash

git stash show -p | git apply -R

Stash Meaning

The <kbd class="highlighted">git stash</kbd> command shelves changes you have made to your working copy so you can work on something else, and then come back to re-apply them. It takes both staged and unstaged uncommitted changes, saves them away for further use, and then removes them from your working copy.

Multiple Stashes

As mentioned above, you can also create multiple stashes. By default, stashes are identified as "WIP" – work in progress. They are stored on top of the branch and commit from which you created the stash.

Staged and Unstaged Changes

Running <kbd class="highlighted">git stash</kbd> will stash both changes not staged for commit and the ones staged for it. However, git stash will not stash new files that have not yet been staged, nor files that have been ignored. In those cases, the -u option (or --include-untracked) helps to also stash untracked files.

also git stash untracked files

git stash -u

You can include changes to ignored files as well by using the -a option (or --all) when running git stash.

include ignored files in stash

git stash -a

How to Apply Patch

Git does not support a stash unapply command, but it is possible to unapply a stash by retrieving the patch associated with it and applying it in reverse:

reverse patch to unapply a stash

git stash show -p stash@{0} | git apply -R

Git assumes the most recent stash if you don’t specify a stash:

git most recent stash

git stash show -p | git apply -R