# Git Stash

Assume you are on a Branch and there is a need to switch to another branch. Why would you need to move to another branch? Here are some reasons:

1. There is a Development Env bug that you need to quickly look at.
    
2. A Production hotfix should go right away.
    
3. Or a urgent code review where you need to pull & switch to another branch
    
4. Or just someone asked you to check something on a different branch
    

You can do this in a couple of ways

1. Commit your changes. (May take more time)
    
2. Git Stash.
    

**Git Stash**

`Git stash` is a useful Git command that temporarily stashes changes you've made to your working directory so you can work on something else. Later you can come back and re-apply your stashed changes.

Here are some common commands and usages for `git stash`

1. **Stashing Changes**
    
    * `git stash`: Stash the changes in your working directory. This command temporarily stores all modified tracked files.
        
    * `git stash save [message]`: Same as `git stash`, but allows you to add a descriptive message to the stash for easy identification.
        
2. **Listing All Stashes**
    
    * `git stash list`: Lists all stashed changes. Stashes are stored in a stack and can be listed to see all.
        
3. **Viewing Stash Contents**
    
    * `git stash show`: Shows the changes recorded previously in the stash as a diff between the stashed changes & the original state.
        
    * `git stash show stash@{n}`: Show the changes in the specified stash.
        
4. **Applying Stashed Changes**
    
    * `git stash apply`: Re-apply the changes stored in the latest stash.
        
    * `git stash apply stash@{n}`: Apply the changes from the specified stash.
        
5. **Removing a Stash**
    
    * `git stash drop stash@{n}`: Remove a single stash entry from the list of stashes.
        
    * `git stash clear`: Remove all the stashed entries.
        

Here is how to make it work (For learning, please play with a temporary repository):

You are on some branch and you have some changes done but not committed and now you need to switch to another branch:

1. git status // To see what all you are working on.
    
2. git stash // Save your current changes into the stash.
    
3. git switch ... // to another branch and complete your work.
    
4. git stash list // To see what stashed I've.
    
5. git stash apply // To apply the latest stashed code.
    

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# **Let's Connect**

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