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 [<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, and any
non-option arguments form the 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 [<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 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 ...
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
Part of the git(1) suite
Git 2.17.1 10/05/2018 GIT-STASH(1)