Module 07: Stashing and Cleaning

Overview

This module covers how to temporarily save work, clean your working directory, and switch contexts safely.

Learning Objectives

• Understand what stashing is and when to use it
• Create, list, and apply stashes
• Drop and clear stashes safely
• Use git stash pop vs git stash apply
• Use git clean to remove untracked files
• Recover from common stash mistakes
• Use stash with untracked files

Topics Covered

7.1 What is Stash?

• Why stash exists

7.2 Creating a Stash

• git stash and messages

7.3 Listing Stashes

• git stash list

7.4 Applying Stashes

• git stash apply vs git stash pop

7.5 Dropping and Clearing Stashes

• git stash drop and git stash clear

7.6 Stashing Untracked Files

• git stash -u

7.7 Using git clean

• Safe clean with -n

7.8 Recovering from Stash Mistakes

• Finding stashes in reflog

7.9 Stash Best Practices

• Small stashes, clear messages

7.10 Cleaning Best Practices

• Avoid deleting needed files

Hands-on Exercises

1. Create a stash, list it, and apply it.
2. Stash changes with a message and pop it.
3. Stash untracked files with -u.
4. Run a safe clean with git clean -n.
5. Clear all stashes.

Key Takeaways

• Stash is for temporary storage, not long-term.
• apply keeps the stash; pop removes it.
• git clean removes untracked files, use it carefully.

Additional Resources

• Pro Git: Git Stashing
• git help stash

Assessment

• Quiz on stash and clean commands
• Practical: stash, apply, clean, and recover

Next Module

Module 08 will cover rewriting history (reset, revert, rebase).