Dropping and clearing stashes in Git - Practice Problems & Coding Challenges

Challenge - 5 Problems

💻 Command Output

intermediate

What is the output of dropping a stash by name?

You have a stash named stash@{1}. What is the output of the command git stash drop stash@{1}?

Git

git stash drop stash@{1}

A error: stash 'stash@{1}' not found.

B Dropped stash@{1} (some message about the stash)

C Nothing to drop, stash list is empty.

D fatal: ambiguous argument 'stash@{1}': unknown revision or path not in the working tree.

💡 Hint

Dropping a stash by its exact name removes it and confirms the action.

The command git stash drop stash@{1} removes the stash at index 1 and outputs a confirmation message like 'Dropped stash@{1} (message)'.

💻 Command Output

intermediate

What happens when you clear all stashes?

What is the output of running git stash clear when you have multiple stashes saved?

Git

git stash clear

A All stashes cleared silently with no output.

B error: stash list is empty, nothing to clear.

C Cleared 3 stashes successfully.

D fatal: stash clear is not a git command.

💡 Hint

Clearing stashes removes all without confirmation or output.

The git stash clear command deletes all stash entries silently without any output.

❓ Troubleshoot

advanced

Why does git stash drop fail with ambiguous argument error?

You run git stash drop stash@{foo} and get the error: fatal: ambiguous argument 'stash@{foo}': unknown revision or path not in the working tree. What is the most likely cause?

Git

git stash drop stash@{foo}

A Your git version does not support dropping stashes by name.

B You need to run <code>git stash clear</code> first to reset stashes.

C The stash name 'stash@{foo}' does not exist or is invalid.

D You must specify the stash index as a number, not a string.

💡 Hint

Check if the stash name matches an existing stash exactly.

The error means the stash name given is not found or invalid. Stash names must be valid references like stash@{0}.

✅ Best Practice

advanced

What is the safest way to remove a specific stash without affecting others?

You want to remove only the stash at index 2 without touching others. Which command should you use?

A git stash apply stash@{2} && git stash drop stash@{2}

B git stash clear

C git stash pop stash@{2}

D git stash drop stash@{2}

💡 Hint

Dropping a stash by its exact name removes only that stash.

The command git stash drop stash@{2} safely removes only the stash at index 2. git stash clear removes all stashes. pop applies and removes, which may affect working files. apply does not remove the stash.

🔀 Workflow

expert

Order the steps to safely clear all stashes after backing them up

You want to save all current stashes as patches before clearing them. Put the steps in the correct order.

A 1,2,4,3

B 1,4,2,3

C 2,1,4,3

D 1,3,2,4

💡 Hint

List stashes first, export each, then clear.

First list all stashes to know their indexes. Then export each stash as a patch file. After backing up all, clear all stashes safely.