Creating named stashes in Git - Step-by-Step CLI Walkthrough

Introduction

Sometimes you need to save your work temporarily without committing it. Creating named stashes lets you save changes with a label so you can find them easily later.

When you want to switch branches but have unfinished work you don't want to commit yet

When you need to save multiple sets of changes separately to work on them later

When you want to share your progress with a descriptive label for clarity

When you want to keep your working directory clean temporarily without losing changes

Commands

This command saves your current changes into a stash with the name 'fix login bug' so you can identify it later.

Terminal

git stash push -m "fix login bug"

Expected Output

Saved working directory and index state On main: fix login bug

→

-m - Adds a descriptive message to the stash

This command shows all your saved stashes with their names and indexes.

Terminal

git stash list

Expected Output

stash@{0}: On main: fix login bug

This command reapplies the changes saved in the stash named 'fix login bug' back to your working directory.

Terminal

git stash apply stash@{0}

Expected Output

No output (command runs silently)

Key Concept

If you remember nothing else from this pattern, remember: naming your stashes helps you keep track of multiple saved changes easily.

Common Mistakes

Running 'git stash' without the -m flag and forgetting what the stash contains

Unnamed stashes are harder to identify later, causing confusion when you have many stashes

Always use 'git stash push -m "message"' to add a clear description

Trying to apply a stash without specifying the correct stash name or index

Git will apply the latest stash by default, which might not be the one you want

Use 'git stash list' to find the correct stash and apply it by its name like 'git stash apply stash@{0}'

Summary

Use 'git stash push -m "message"' to save changes with a clear name.

Check saved stashes with 'git stash list' to see their names and indexes.

Reapply a specific stash with 'git stash apply stash@{index}'.