How “Git Stash” Can Save Your Life — A Quick Guide
We’ve all been there — you’re in the middle of working on a feature or fixing a bug, and suddenly, something urgent comes up. Maybe a colleague asks you to review their code, or your boss needs a hotfix deployed ASAP. You’re not ready to commit your current work, but you don’t want to lose it either. Enter git stash
—a lifesaver in these situations.
Let’s break down how git stash
works and how it can save you when you need to switch contexts quickly.
What is Git Stash?
At its core, git stash
is a simple command that temporarily saves your local changes in a stack, allowing you to switch to another branch or work on something else without committing unfinished work.
The Scenario: Work in Progress
Imagine you’re working on a new feature on feature-branch
but suddenly need to switch to main
to address a critical bug.
You have changes in your working directory that aren’t ready to be committed. Committing them now would clutter your history. If you just switch branches, you’ll lose your changes.
That’s where git stash
comes in.
How to Use Git Stash:
- Step 1: Stash Your Work