Git Aliases for Stash Operations

Stash Aliases

Git stash is a powerful tool for temporarily shelving changes, but its commands are verbose. These aliases make stash operations quick and intuitive:

[alias]
    save  = stash push -m
    pop   = stash pop
    sl    = stash list
    sa    = stash apply
    sd    = stash drop
    sshow = stash show -p

Named Stashes with save

Always name your stashes. Anonymous stashes quickly become mysterious:

git save "WIP: refactoring user module"
git save "Experiment: new caching strategy"

Compared to unnamed stashes:

stash@{0}: WIP: refactoring user module        # Clear purpose
stash@{1}: Experiment: new caching strategy     # Clear purpose
stash@{2}: WIP on main: a1b2c3d Fix typo        # What was this?

Stash List (sl)

View your stash stack:

git sl
# stash@{0}: On feature: WIP: refactoring user module
# stash@{1}: On main: Experiment: new caching strategy

Apply vs Pop

Command	Effect
git pop	Apply latest stash and remove it from the stack
git sa	Apply latest stash but keep it on the stack
git sa stash@{2}	Apply specific stash by index

Use pop when you are done with the stash. Use apply when you want to apply the same changes to multiple branches.

Show Stash Contents (sshow)

Before applying, preview what a stash contains:

git sshow                # Show latest stash diff
git sshow stash@{1}     # Show specific stash diff

Including Untracked Files

By default, stash only saves tracked files. To include untracked files:

[alias]
    saveu = stash push -u -m

The -u flag includes untracked files, which is essential when you have created new files that are not yet staged.