---
layout: reference
---
<div class="box">
<h2>
<span class="docs">
<a target="new" href="http://git-scm.com/book/en/Git-Basics-Recording-Changes-to-the-Repository">book</a>
</span>
Basic Snapshotting
</h2>
<div class="block">
<p>
Git is all about composing and saving snapshots of your project and then
working with and comparing those snapshots. This section will explain
the commands needed to compose and commit snapshots of your project.
</p>
<p>
An important concept here is that Git has an 'index', which acts as sort
of a staging area for your snapshot. This allows you to build up a series
of well composed snapshots from changed files in your working directory,
rather than having to commit all of the file changes at once.
</p>
<p class="nutshell">
<strong>In a nutshell</strong>, you will use <code>git add</code> to start tracking new
files and also to stage changes to already tracked files, then
<code>git status</code> and <code>git diff</code> to see what has been
modified and staged and finally <code>git commit</code> to record your
snapshot into your history. This will be the basic workflow that you use
most of the time.
</p>
</div>
</div>
<div class="box">
<h2>
<span class="docs">
<a target="new" href="http://git-scm.com/docs/git-add">docs</a>
<a target="new" href="http://git-scm.com/book/en/Git-Basics-Recording-Changes-to-the-Repository#Tracking-New-Files">book</a>
</span>
<a name="add">git add</a>
<span class="desc">adds file contents to the staging area</span>
</h2>
<div class="block">
<p>
In Git, you have to add file contents to your staging area before you
can commit them. If the file is new, you can run <code>git add</code>
to initially add the file to your staging area, but even if the file
is already "tracked" - ie, it was in your last commit - you still need
to call <code>git add</code> to add new modifications to your staging
area. Let's see a few examples of this.
</p>
<p>Going back to our Hello World example, once we've initiated the project,
we would now start adding our files to it and we would do that with
<code>git add</code>. We can use <code>git status</code> to see what the
state of our project is.
</p>
<pre>
<b>$ git status -s</b>
<span class="red">??</span> README
<span class="red">??</span> hello.rb
</pre>
So right now we have two untracked files. We can now add them.
<pre>
<b>$ git add README hello.rb</b>
</pre>
Now if we run <code>git status</code> again, we'll see that they've been
added.
<pre>
<b>$ git status -s</b>
<span class="green">A</span> README
<span class="green">A</span> hello.rb
</pre>
<p class="aside">
It is also common to recursively add all files in a new project by specifying
the current working directory like this: <code>git add .</code>. Since Git
will recursively add all files under a directory you give it, if you give it
the current working directory, it will simply start tracking every file
there. In this case, a <code>git add .</code> would have done the same
thing as a <code>git add README hello.rb</code>, or for that matter so would
<code>git add *</code>, but that's only because we don't have subdirectories
which the <code>*</code> would not recurse into.
</p>
<p>OK, so now if we edit one of these files and run <code>git status</code>
again, we will see something odd.</p>
<pre>
<b>$ vim README</b>
<b>$ git status -s</b>
<span class="green">A</span><span class="red">M</span> README
<span class="green">A</span> hello.rb
</pre>
<p>The 'AM' status means that the file has been modified on disk since we
last added it. This means that if we commit our snapshot right now, we will
be recording the version of the file when we last ran <code>git add</code>,
not the version that is on our disk. Git does not assume that what the file
looks like on disk is necessarily what you want to snapshot - you have to
tell Git with the <code>git add</code> command.
</p>
<p class="nutshell">
<strong>In a nutshell</strong>,
you run <code>git add</code> on a file when you want to
include whatever changes you've made to it in your next commit snapshot.
Anything you've changed that is not added will not be included - this means
you can craft your snapshots with a bit more precision than most other SCM
systems.</p>
<p>For a very interesting example of using this flexibility to stage only
parts of modified files at a time, see the '-p' option to
<code>git add</code> in the Pro Git book.</p>
</div>
</div>
<div class="box">
<h2>
<span class="docs">
<a target="new" href="http://git-scm.com/docs/git-status">docs</a>
<a target="new" href="http://git-scm.com/book/en/Git-Basics-Recording-Changes-to-the-Repository#Checking-the-Status-of-Your-Files">book</a>
</span>
<a name="status">git status</a>
<span class="desc">view the status of your files in the working directory and staging area</span>
</h2>
<div class="block">
<p>As you saw in the <code>git add</code> section, in order to see what the
status of your staging area is compared to the code in your working
directory, you can run the <code>git status</code> command. Using the
<code>-s</code> option will give you short output.
Without that flag, the <code>git status</code> command will give you more
context and hints. Here is the same status output with and without the
<code>-s</code>. The short output looks like this:
</p>
<pre>
<b>$ git status -s</b>
<span class="green">A</span><span class="red">M</span> README
<span class="green">A</span> hello.rb
</pre>
Where the same status with the long output looks like this:
<pre>
<b>$ git status</b>
# On branch master
#
# Initial commit
#
# Changes to be committed:
# (use "git rm --cached <file>..." to unstage)
#
# <span class="green">new file: README</span>
# <span class="green">new file: hello.rb</span>
#
# Changed but not updated:
# (use "git add <file>..." to update what will be committed)
# (use "git checkout -- <file>..." to discard changes in working directory)
#
# <span class="red">modified: README</span>
#
</pre>
<p>You can easily see how much more compact the short output is, but the
long output has useful tips and hints as to what commands you may want to
use next.
</p>
<p>Git will also tell you about files that were deleted since your last
commit or files that were modified or staged since your last commit.</p>
<pre>
<b>$ git status -s</b>
<span class="green">M</span> README
<span class="red">D</span> hello.rb
</pre>
You can see there are two columns in the short status output. The first
column is for the staging area, the second is for the working directory.
So for example, if you have the README file staged and then you modify
it again without running <code>git add</code> a second time, you'll see
this:
<pre>
<b>$ git status -s</b>
<span class="green">M</span><span class="red">M</span> README
<span class="red">D</span> hello.rb
</pre>
<p class="nutshell">
<strong>In a nutshell</strong>,
you run <code>git status</code> to see if anything has been modified
and/or staged since your last commit so you can decide if you want to
commit a new snapshot and what will be recorded in it.
</p>
</div>
</div>
<div class="box">
<h2>
<span class="docs">
<a target="new" href="http://git-scm.com/docs/git-diff">docs</a>
<a target="new" href="http://git-scm.com/book/en/Git-Basics-Recording-Changes-to-the-Repository#Viewing-Your-Staged-and-Unstaged-Changes">book</a>
</span>
<a name="diff">git diff</a>
<span class="desc">shows diff of what is staged and what is modified but unstaged</span>
</h2>
<div class="block">
<p>There are two main uses of the <code>git diff</code> command. One use we
will describe here, the other we will describe later in the
<a href="/inspect">"Inspection and Comparison"</a>
section. The way we're going to use it here is to describe the
changes that are staged or modified on disk but unstaged.</p>
<h4>
git diff
<small>show diff of unstaged changes</small>
</h4>
<p>Without any extra arguments, a simple <code>git diff</code> will display
in unified diff format (a patch) what code or content you've changed in your
project since the last commit that are not yet staged for the next commit
snapshot.
</p>
<pre>
<b>$ vim hello.rb</b>
<b>$ git status -s</b>
<span class="red">M</span> hello.rb
<b>$ git diff</b>
<span class="umber">diff --git a/hello.rb b/hello.rb
index d62ac43..8d15d50 100644
--- a/hello.rb
+++ b/hello.rb</span>
<span class="lblue">@@ -1,7 +1,7 @@</span>
class HelloWorld
def self.hello
<span class="red">- puts "hello world"</span>
<span class="green">+ puts "hola mundo"</span>
end
end
</pre>
<p>So where <code>git status</code> will show you what files have changed
and/or been staged since your last commit, <code>git diff</code> will
show you what those changes actually are, line by line. It's generally
a good follow-up command to <code>git status</code>
</p>
<h4>
git diff --cached
<small>show diff of staged changes</small>
</h4>
<p>The <code>git diff --cached</code> command will show you what contents
have been staged. That is, this will show you the changes that will
currently go into the next commit snapshot. So, if you were to stage
the change to <code>hello.rb</code> in the example above,
<code>git diff</code> by itself won't show you any output because it will
only show you what is <i>not yet</i> staged.
</p>
<pre>
<b>$ git status -s</b>
<span class="red">M</span> hello.rb
<b>$ git add hello.rb </b>
<b>$ git status -s</b>
<span class="green">M</span> hello.rb
<b>$ git diff</b>
<b>$ </b>
</pre>
<p>If you want to see the staged changes, you can run
<code>git diff --cached</code> instead.</p>
<pre>
<b>$ git status -s</b>
<span class="green">M</span> hello.rb
<b>$ git diff</b>
<b>$ </b>
<b>$ git diff --cached</b>
<span class="umber">diff --git a/hello.rb b/hello.rb
index d62ac43..8d15d50 100644
--- a/hello.rb
+++ b/hello.rb</span>
<span class="lblue">@@ -1,7 +1,7 @@</span>
class HelloWorld
def self.hello
<span class="red">- puts "hello world"</span>
<span class="green">+ puts "hola mundo"</span>
end
end
</pre>
<h4>
git diff HEAD
<small>show diff of all staged or unstaged changes</small>
</h4>
<p>If you want to see both staged and unstaged changes together, you
can run <code>git diff HEAD</code> - this basically means you want to
see the difference between your working directory and the last commit,
ignoring the staging area. If we make another change to our
<code>hello.rb</code> file then we'll have some changes staged and some
changes unstaged. Here are what all three <code>diff</code> commands
will show you:</p>
<pre>
<b>$ vim hello.rb </b>
<b>$ git diff</b>
<span class="umber">diff --git a/hello.rb b/hello.rb
index 4f40006..2ae9ba4 100644
--- a/hello.rb
+++ b/hello.rb</span>
<span class="lblue">@@ -1,7 +1,7 @@</span>
class HelloWorld
<span class="green">+ # says hello</span>
def self.hello
puts "hola mundo"
end
end
<b>$ git diff --cached</b>
<span class="umber">diff --git a/hello.rb b/hello.rb
index 2aabb6e..4f40006 100644
--- a/hello.rb
+++ b/hello.rb</span>
<span class="lblue">@@ -1,7 +1,7 @@</span>
class HelloWorld
def self.hello
<span class="red">- puts "hello world"</span>
<span class="green">+ puts "hola mundo"</span>
end
end
<b>$ git diff HEAD</b>
<span class="umber">diff --git a/hello.rb b/hello.rb
index 2aabb6e..2ae9ba4 100644
--- a/hello.rb
+++ b/hello.rb</span>
<span class="lblue">@@ -1,7 +1,8 @@</span>
class HelloWorld
<span class="green">+ # says hello</span>
def self.hello
<span class="red">- puts "hello world"</span>
<span class="green">+ puts "hola mundo"</span>
end
end
</pre>
<h4>
git diff --stat
<small>show summary of changes instead of a full diff</small>
</h4>
<p>If we don't want the full diff output, but we want more than the
<code>git status</code> output, we can use the <code>--stat</code>
option, which will give us a summary of changes instead. Here is the
same example as above, but using the <code>--stat</code> option instead.
</p>
<pre>
<b>$ git status -s</b>
<span class="green">M</span><span class="red">M</span> hello.rb
<b>$ git diff --stat</b>
hello.rb | 1 <span class="green">+</span>
1 files changed, 1 insertions(+), 0 deletions(-)
<b>$ git diff --cached --stat</b>
hello.rb | 2 <span class="green">+</span><span class="red">-</span>
1 files changed, 1 insertions(+), 1 deletions(-)
<b>$ git diff HEAD --stat</b>
hello.rb | 3 <span class="green">++</span><span class="red">-</span>
1 files changed, 2 insertions(+), 1 deletions(-)
</pre>
<p>
You can also provide a file path at the end of any of these options
to limit the <code>diff</code> output to a specific file or subdirectory.
</p>
<p class="nutshell">
<strong>In a nutshell</strong>,
you run <code>git diff</code> to see details of the <code>git status</code>
command - <i>how</i> files have been modified or staged on a line by line
basis.
</p>
</div>
</div>
<div class="box">
<h2>
<span class="docs">
<a target="new" href="http://git-scm.com/docs/git-commit">docs</a>
<a target="new" href="http://git-scm.com/book/en/Git-Basics-Recording-Changes-to-the-Repository#Committing-Your-Changes">book</a>
</span>
<a name="commit">git commit</a>
<span class="desc">records a snapshot of the staging area</span>
</h2>
<div class="block">
<p>Now that you have staged the content you want to snapshot with the
<code>git add</code> command, you run <code>git commit</code> to actually
record the snapshot.
Git records your name and email address with every commit you make,
so the first step is to tell Git what these are.
</p>
<pre>
<b>$ git config --global user.name 'Your Name'</b>
<b>$ git config --global user.email you@somedomain.com</b>
</pre>
<p>Let's stage and commit all the changes to our
<code>hello.rb</code> file. In this first example, we'll use the
<code>-m</code> option to provide the commit message on the command line.
</p>
<pre>
<b>$ git add hello.rb </b>
<b>$ git status -s</b>
<span class="green">M</span> hello.rb
<b>$ git commit -m 'my hola mundo changes'</b>
[master 68aa034] my hola mundo changes
1 files changed, 2 insertions(+), 1 deletions(-)
</pre>
<p>Now we have recorded the snapshot. If we run <code>git status</code>
again, we will see that we have a "clean working directory", which means
that we have not made any changes since our last commit - there is no
un-snapshotted work in our checkout.</p>
<pre>
<b>$ git status</b>
# On branch master
nothing to commit (working directory clean)
</pre>
<p>If you leave off the <code>-m</code> option, Git will try to open a
text editor for you to write your commit message. In <code>vim</code>,
which it will default to if it can find nothing else in your settings,
the screen might look something like this:
</p>
<pre>
# Please enter the commit message for your changes. Lines starting
# with '#' will be ignored, and an empty message aborts the commit.
# On branch master
# Changes to be committed:
# (use "git reset HEAD <file>..." to unstage)
#
# modified: hello.rb
#
~
~
".git/COMMIT_EDITMSG" 9L, 257C
</pre>
<p>At this point you add your actual commit message at the top of the
document. Any lines starting with '#' will be ignored - Git will put
the output of the <code>git status</code> command in there for you as
a reminder of what you have modified and staged.</p>
<p>In general, it's very important to write a good commit message.
For open source projects, it's generally a rule to write your message
more or less in this format:</p>
<pre>
Short (50 chars or less) summary of changes
More detailed explanatory text, if necessary. Wrap it to about 72
characters or so. In some contexts, the first line is treated as the
subject of an email and the rest of the text as the body. The blank
line separating the summary from the body is critical (unless you omit
the body entirely); some git tools can get confused if you run the
two together.
Further paragraphs come after blank lines.
- Bullet points are okay, too
- Typically a hyphen or asterisk is used for the bullet, preceded by a
single space, with blank lines in between, but conventions vary
here
# Please enter the commit message for your changes. Lines starting
# with '#' will be ignored, and an empty message aborts the commit.
# On branch master
# Changes to be committed:
# (use "git reset HEAD <file>..." to unstage)
#
# modified: hello.rb
#
~
~
~
".git/COMMIT_EDITMSG" 25L, 884C written
</pre>
<p class="aside">
The commit message is very important. Since much of the power of
Git is this flexibility in carefully crafting commits locally and then
sharing them later, it is very powerful to be able to write three or
four commits of logically separate changes so that your work may be more
easily peer reviewed. Since there is a separation between committing and
pushing those changes, do take the time to make it easier for the people
you are working with to see what you've done by putting each logically
separate change in a separate commit with a nice commit message so it
is easier for them to see what you are doing and why.</p>
<h4>
git commit -a
<small>automatically stage all tracked, modified files before the commit</small>
</h4>
<p>If you think the <code>git add</code> stage of the workflow is too
cumbersome, Git allows you to skip that part with the <code>-a</code>
option. This basically tells Git to run <code>git add</code> on any file
that is "tracked" - that is, any file that was in your last commit and
has been modified. This allows you to do a more Subversion style workflow
if you want, simply editing files and then running <code>git commit -a</code>
when you want to snapshot everything that has been changed. You still need
to run <code>git add</code> to start tracking new files, though, just like
Subversion.
</p>
<pre>
<b>$ vim hello.rb</b>
<b>$ git status -s</b>
<span class="red">M</span> hello.rb
<b>$ git commit -m 'changes to hello file'</b>
# On branch master
# Changed but not updated:
# (use "git add <file>..." to update what will be committed)
# (use "git checkout -- <file>..." to discard changes in working directory)
#
# modified: hello.rb
#
<span class="hl">no changes added to commit (use "git add" and/or "git commit -a")</span>
<b>$ git commit -am 'changes to hello file'</b>
[master 78b2670] changes to hello file
1 files changed, 2 insertions(+), 1 deletions(-)
</pre>
<p>Notice how if you don't stage any changes and then run
<code>git commit</code>, Git will simply give you the output of the
<code>git status</code> command, reminding you that nothing is staged.
The important part of that message has been highlighted, saying that nothing
is added to be committed. If you use <code>-a</code>, it will add and
commit everything at once.
</p>
<p>This now lets you complete the entire snapshotting workflow - you
make changes to your files, then use <code>git add</code> to stage
files you want to change, <code>git status</code> and <code>git diff</code>
to see what you've changed, and then finally <code>git commit</code>
to actually record the snapshot forever.</p>
<p class="nutshell">
<strong>In a nutshell</strong>,
you run <code>git commit</code> to record the snapshot of your staged
content. This snapshot can then be compared, shared and reverted to
if you need to.
</p>
</div>
</div>
<div class="box">
<h2>
<span class="docs">
<a target="new" href="http://git-scm.com/docs/git-reset">docs</a>
<a target="new" href="http://git-scm.com/book/en/Git-Basics-Undoing-Things#Unstaging-a-Staged-File">book</a>
</span>
<a name="reset">git reset</a>
<span class="desc">undo changes and commits</span>
</h2>
<div class="block">
<p><code>git reset</code> is probably the most confusing command written
by humans, but it can be very useful when you get the hang of it.
There are three specific invocations of it that are generally
helpful.
</p>
<h4>
git reset HEAD
<small>undo the last commit and unstage the files</small>
</h4>
<p>First, you can use it to unstage something that has been
accidentally staged. Let's say that you have modified two files and want
to record them into two different commits. You should stage and commit
one, then stage and commit the other. If you accidentally stage both of
them, how do you <i>un-</i>stage one? You do it with
<code>git reset HEAD -- file</code>. Technically you don't have to
add the <code>--</code> - it is used to tell Git when you have stopped
listing options and are now listing file paths, but it's probably good to
get into the habit of using it to separate options from paths even if you
don't need to.
</p>
<p>Let's see what it looks like to unstage something. Here we have
two files that have been modified since our last commit. We will stage
both, then unstage one of them.</p>
<pre>
<b>$ git status -s</b>
<span class="red">M</span> README
<span class="red">M</span> hello.rb
<b>$ git add .</b>
<b>$ git status -s</b>
<span class="green">M</span> README
<span class="green">M</span> hello.rb
<b>$ git reset HEAD -- hello.rb </b>
Unstaged changes after reset:
M hello.rb
<b>$ git status -s</b>
<span class="green">M</span> README
<span class="red">M</span> hello.rb
</pre>
<p>Now you can run a <code>git commit</code> which will just record
the changes to the <code>README</code> file, not the now unstaged
<code>hello.rb</code>.
</p>
<p class="aside">
In case you're curious, what it's actually doing here is it is resetting
the checksum of the entry for that file in the "index" to be what it was
in the last commit. Since <code>git add</code> checksums a file and adds
it to the "index", <code>git reset HEAD</code> overwrites that with what
it was before, thereby effectively unstaging it.
</p>
<p class="tip">
If you want to be able to just run <code>git unstage</code>, you can easily
setup an alias in Git. Just run
<code>git config --global alias.unstage "reset HEAD"</code>.
Once you have run that, you can then just run
<code>git unstage [file]</code> instead.
</p>
<p>If you forget the command to unstage something, Git is helpful in
reminding you in the output of the normal <code>git status</code>
command. For example, if you run <code>git status</code> without
the <code>-s</code> when you have staged files, it will tell you
how to unstage them:</p>
<pre>
<b>$ git status</b>
# On branch master
# Changes to be committed:
# <span class="hl">(use "git reset HEAD <file>..." to unstage)</span>
#
# <span class="green">modified: README</span>
# <span class="green">modified: hello.rb</span>
#
</pre>
<p>When you run <code>git reset</code> without specifying a flag
it defaults to <code>--mixed</code>. The other options are
<code>--soft</code> and <code>--hard</code>.</p>
<h4>
git reset --soft
<small>undo the last commit</small>
</h4>
<p>The first thing <code>git reset</code> does is undo the last
commit and put the files back onto the stage. If you include the
<code>--soft</code> flag this is where it stops. For example,
if you run <code>git reset --soft HEAD~</code> (the parent of the
HEAD) the last commit will be undone and the files touched
will be back on the stage again.</p>
<pre>
<b>$ git status -s</b>
<span class="green">M</span> hello.rb
<b>$ git commit -am 'hello with a flower'</b>
[master 5857ac1] hello with a flower
1 files changed, 3 insertions(+), 1 deletions(-)
<b>$ git status</b>
# On branch master
nothing to commit (working directory clean)
<b>$ git reset --soft HEAD~</b>
<b>$ git status -s</b>
<span class="green">M</span> hello.rb
</pre>
<p>This is basically doing the same thing as
<code>git commit --amend</code>, allowing you to do more work
before you roll in the file changes into the same commit.</p>
<h4>
git reset --hard
<small>undo the last commit, unstage files AND undo any changes in the working directory</small>
</h4>
<p>The third option is to go <code>--hard</code> and make your working
directory look like the index, unstage files and undo the last commit.
This is the most dangerous option and not working directory safe. Any
changes not in the index or have not been commited will be lost.</p>
<pre>
<b>$ git status</b>
# On branch master
# Changes to be committed:
# (use "git reset HEAD <file>..." to unstage)
#
# <span class="green">modified: README</span>
#
# Changes not staged for commit:
# (use "git add <file>..." to update what will be committed)
# (use "git checkout -- <file>..." to discard changes in working directory)
#
# <span class="red">modified: README</span>
#
<b>$ git reset --hard HEAD</b>
HEAD is now at 5857ac1 hello with a flower
<b>$ git status</b>
# On branch master
nothing to commit (working directory clean)
</pre>
<p>In the above example, while we had both changes ready to commit and
ready to stage, a <code>git reset --hard</code> wiped them out.
On top of that, the last commit has been undone.</p>
<p>You can replace <code>HEAD</code> with a commit SHA-1 or another
parent reference to reset to that specific point.</p>
<p class="nutshell">
<strong>In a nutshell</strong>,
you run <code>git reset HEAD</code> to undo the last commit, unstage
files that you previously ran <code>git add</code> on and wish to not
include in the next commit snapshot</p>
</div>
</div>
<div class="box">
<h2>
<span class="docs">
<a href="http://git-scm.com/docs/git-rm">docs</a>
<a href="http://git-scm.com/book/en/Git-Basics-Recording-Changes-to-the-Repository#Removing-Files">book</a>
</span>
<a name="rm-mv">git rm</a>
<span class="desc">remove files from the staging area</span>
</h2>
<div class="block">
<p><code>git rm</code> will remove entries from the staging area.
This is a bit different from <code>git reset HEAD</code> which "unstages"
files. To "unstage" means it reverts the staging area to what was
there before we started modifying things. <code>git rm</code> on the
other hand just kicks the file off the stage entirely, so that it's not
included in the next commit snapshot, thereby effectively deleting it.</p>
<p>By default, a <code>git rm file</code> will remove the file from the
staging area entirely and also off your disk (the working directory). To
leave the file in the working directory, you can use <code>git rm --cached
</code>.</p>
<h4>
git mv
<small>git rm --cached orig; mv orig new; git add new</small>
</h4>
<p>
Unlike most other version control systems, Git does not track file renames.
Instead, it just tracks the snapshots and then figures out what files were
likely renamed by comparing snapshots. If a file was removed from one
snapshot and another file was added to the next one and the contents are
similar, Git figures it was most likely a rename. So, although the
<code>git mv</code> command exists, it is superfluous - all it does is a
<code>git rm --cached</code>, moves the file on disk, then runs a
<code>git add</code> on the new file. You don't really need to use it, but
if it's easier, feel free.
</p>
<p class="aside">
In its normal form the command is used to delete files.
But it's often easier to just remove the files off your disk and
then run <code>git commit -a</code>, which will also automatically remove
them from your index.</p>
<p class="nutshell">
<strong>In a nutshell</strong>,
you run <code>git rm</code> to remove files from being tracked in Git. It
will also remove them from your working directory.
</p>
</div>
</div>
<div class="box">
<h2>
<span class="docs">
<a href="http://git-scm.com/docs/git-stash">docs</a>
<a href="http://git-scm.com/book/en/Git-Tools-Stashing">book</a>
</span>
<a name="stash">git stash</a>
<span class="desc">save changes made in the current index and working directory for later</span>
</h2>
<div class="block">
<p>You're in the middle of some changes but something comes up that you
need to jump over to, like a so-urgent-right-now bugfix, but don't want
to commit or lose your current edits. <code>git stash</code> is there for you.
</p>
<h4>
git stash
<small>add current changes to the stack</small>
</h4>
<p>Stashing takes the current state of the working directory and index,
puts it on a stack for later, and gives you back a clean working directory.
It will then leave you at the state of the last commit.
</p>
<pre>
<b>$ git status -s</b>
<span class="red">M</span> hello.rb
<b>$ git stash</b>
Saved working directory and index state WIP on master: 5857ac1 hello with a flower
HEAD is now at 5857ac1 hello with a flower
<b>$ git status</b>
# On branch master
nothing to commit (working directory clean)
</pre>
<h4>
git stash list
<small>view stashes currently on the stack</small>
</h4>
<p>It's helpful to know what you've got stowed on the stash and this is where
<code>git stash list</code> comes in. Running this command will display a queue
of current stash items.
</p>
<pre>
<b>$ git stash list</b>
stash@{0}: WIP on master: 5857ac1 hello with a flower
</pre>
<p>The last item added onto the stash will be referenced by
<code>stash@{0}</code> and increment those already there by one.
</p>
<pre>
<b>$ vim hello.rb</b>
<b>$ git commit -am 'it stops raining'</b>
[master ee2d2c6] it stops raining
1 files changed, 1 insertions(+), 1 deletions(-)
<b>$ vim hello.rb</b>
<b>$ git stash</b>
Saved working directory and index state WIP on master: ee2d2c6 it stops raining
HEAD is now at ee2d2c6 it stops raining
<b>$ git stash list</b>
stash@{0}: WIP on master: ee2d2c6 it stops raining
stash@{1}: WIP on master: 5857ac1 hello with a flower
</pre>
<h4>
git stash apply
<small>grab the item from the stash list and apply to current working directory</small>
</h4>
<p>When you're ready to continue from where you left off, run the
<code>git stash apply</code> command to bring back the saved changes
onto the working directory.
</p>
<pre>
<b>$ git stash apply</b>
# On branch master
# Changes not staged for commit:
# (use "git add <file>..." to update what will be committed)
# (use "git checkout -- <file>..." to discard changes in working directory)
#
# <span class="red">modified: hello.rb</span>
#
no changes added to commit (use "git add" and/or "git commit -a")
</pre>
<p>By default it will reapply the last added stash item to the working
directory. This will be the item referenced by <code>stash@{0}</code>.
You can grab another stash item instead if you reference it in the arguments
list. For example, <code>git stash apply stash@{1}</code> will apply the item
referenced by <code>stash@{1}</code>.
</p>
<p>If you also want to remove the item from the stack at the same time,
use <code>git stash pop</code> instead.
</p>
<h4>
git stash drop
<small>remove an item from the stash list</small>
</h4>
<p>When you're done with the stashed item and/or want to remove it from the
list, run the <code>git stash drop</code> command. By default this will
remove the last added stash item. You can also remove a specific item if
you include it as an argument.
</p>
<p>In this example, our stash list has at least two items, but we want
to get rid of the item added before last, which is referenced by
<code>stash@{1}</code>.
</p>
<pre>
<b>$ git stash drop stash@{1}</b>
Dropped stash@{1} (0b1478540189f30fef9804684673907c65865d8f)
</pre>
<p>If you want to remove of all the stored items, just run
the <code>git stash clear</code> command. But only do this if you're
sure you're done with the stash.
</p>
<p class="nutshell">
<strong>In a nutshell</strong>, run <code>git stash</code> to quickly save
some changes that you're not ready to commit or save, but want to come
back to while you work on something else.
</p>
</div>
</div>
<p><a class="page-button next-page" href="/branching">On to Branching and Merging »</a></p>