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HTML rendering created 2025-09-06 by Michael Kerrisk, author of The Linux Programming Interface. For details of in-depth Linux/UNIX system programming training courses that I teach, look here. Hosting by jambit GmbH. |
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NAME | SYNOPSIS | DESCRIPTION | COMMANDS | OPTIONS | DISCUSSION | EXAMPLES | CONFIGURATION | SEE ALSO | GIT | COLOPHON |
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GIT-STASH(1) Git Manual GIT-STASH(1)
git-stash - Stash the changes in a dirty working directory away
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>
git stash export (--print | --to-ref <ref>) [<stash>...]
git stash import <commit>
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}).
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.
save [-p|--patch] [-S|--staged] [-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 pathspec.
Instead, all non-option arguments are concatenated to form the
stash message.
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>]
Remove a single stash entry from the list of stash entries.
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.
export ( --print | --to-ref <ref> ) [<stash>...]
Export the specified stashes, or all of them if none are
specified, to a chain of commits which can be transferred
using the normal fetch and push mechanisms, then imported
using the import subcommand.
import <commit>
Import the specified stashes from the specified commit, which
must have been created by export, and add them to the list of
stashes. To replace the existing stashes, use clear first.
-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.
-U<n>, --unified=<n>
Generate diffs with <n> lines of context. Defaults to
diff.context or 3 if the config option is unset.
--inter-hunk-context=<n>
Show the context between diff hunks, up to the specified
<number> of lines, thereby fusing hunks that are close to each
other. Defaults to diff.interHunkContext or 0 if the config
option is unset.
-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 instead of current branch.
The --patch option has priority over this one.
--pathspec-from-file=<file>
This option is only valid for push command.
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.
--print
This option is only valid for the export command.
Create the chain of commits representing the exported stashes
without storing it anywhere in the ref namespace and print the
object ID to standard output. This is designed for scripts.
--to-ref
This option is only valid for the export command.
Create the chain of commits representing the exported stashes
and store it to the specified ref.
--
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,
and export commands.
A reference of the form stash@{<revision>}. When no <stash> is
given, the latest stash is assumed (that is, stash@{0}).
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.
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'
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 current branch.
# ... hack hack hack ...
$ git add --patch foo # add unrelated changes to the index
$ git stash push --staged # save these changes to the stash
# ... hack hack hack, finish current changes ...
$ git commit -m 'Massive' # commit fully tested changes
$ 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
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
the description of the 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 the description of the show command in
git-stash(1).
stash.showStat
If this is set to true, the git stash show command without an
option will show a diffstat of the stash entry. Defaults to
true. See the description of the show command in git-stash(1).
git-checkout(1), git-commit(1), git-reflog(1), git-reset(1),
git-switch(1)
Part of the git(1) suite
This page is part of the git (Git distributed version control
system) project. Information about the project can be found at
⟨http://git-scm.com/⟩. If you have a bug report for this manual
page, see ⟨http://git-scm.com/community⟩. This page was obtained
from the project's upstream Git repository
⟨https://github.com/git/git.git⟩ on 2025-08-11. (At that time,
the date of the most recent commit that was found in the
repository was 2025-08-07.) If you discover any rendering
problems in this HTML version of the page, or you believe there is
a better or more up-to-date source for the page, or you have
corrections or improvements to the information in this COLOPHON
(which is not part of the original manual page), send a mail to
[email protected]
Git 2.51.0.rc1 2025-08-07 GIT-STASH(1)
Pages that refer to this page: git(1), git-config(1), git-merge(1), git-pull(1), git-reset(1), git-stash(1), git-worktree(1), stg(1), gitworkflows(7)
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HTML rendering created 2025-09-06 by Michael Kerrisk, author of The Linux Programming Interface. For details of in-depth Linux/UNIX system programming training courses that I teach, look here. Hosting by jambit GmbH. |
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