Stash and switch

Halfway through something, and an urgent fix lands. Put your work in a drawer, fix the fire, and pick up exactly where you left off.

Goal#

Set unfinished work aside without committing it, switch branches safely, and get the work back.

The drawer#

shell

git stash                 # put your uncommitted changes away; the tree is clean again
git stash list            # what is in the drawer
git stash pop             # take the newest back out, and remove it from the drawer
git stash apply           # take it back out, but keep a copy in the drawer
git stash push -m "sisal rope, half done"   # stash with a note

Git will not let you switch branches if your uncommitted changes would be overwritten. Stash first, or commit to your branch first. Both are fine. A stash is quicker for minutes; a commit is safer for days.

Quest 08#

shell

quest start 8

You are on scratching-post, halfway through adding a sisal rope. Then the README on main turns out to say "teh cat".

Stash your work.
Switch to main, fix the typo, and commit.
Switch back to scratching-post and pop your work.

Then quest check.

Check it works#

main has your fix, you are on scratching-post, and git diff shows the sisal rope again.
git stash list is empty, and quest check passes.

Exercise#

Stash twice with notes, then git stash list. Pop the older one with git stash pop stash@{1}. Which one is stash@{0}?

More to try

git stash -u also stashes new, untracked files. Make one and see what plain git stash does with it.
Chapter 12 shows git worktree: a second folder on another branch, so you never need to stash at all.

Quest 08

quest start 8
# ...fix it with real git...
quest check

Mark it done once quest check shows every line as PASS. Your progress stays in this browser.