How Can I Git Stash a Specific File

Git is a popular version control system used by developers to track changes in their code.

It is an essential tool for managing and organizing code, particularly in collaborative projects.

While Git provides many functionalities, one of the most useful is the ability to stash changes.

In this tutorial, we will focus on how to stash a specific file in Git.


What is Git Stashing?

Git stashing is a feature that allows you to temporarily store changes that you have made to your code but are not yet ready to commit.

This is useful when you need to switch to another branch to work on a different task but don’t want to lose your current changes.

How to Stash a Specific File in Git?

In order to stash a specific file in Git, you will need to follow these steps:

  1. Check the status of your repository using the command:
$ git status
  1. Identify the file that you want to stash.
  2. Use the following command to stash the specific file:
$ git stash push -m "stash message" -- path/to/file
  1. Verify that the file has been stashed by using the command:
$ git stash list
  1. To restore the stashed file, use the command:
$ git stash apply stash@{0} -- path/to/file

Note: In the above command, “stash@{0}” refers to the latest stash.

If you have multiple stashes, you can specify the desired stash by its index.


Conclusion

Git stashing is an important feature that allows you to save changes temporarily without committing them.

By stashing a specific file, you can easily switch between branches and restore your changes when you return to your original branch.

With the steps outlined in this post, you should be able to stash a specific file in Git with ease.