How to delete stashes in Git

Deleting stashes can help keep your repository clean and manageable, especially in a busy development environment. This guide will walk you through the process of deleting stashes in Git, covering how to delete a specific stash, the last stash, and all stashes.

Understanding Git stash

Before explaining how to delete stashes, it's important to understand what a stash is. In Git, a stash is a temporary storage for uncommitted changes that you want to save without committing them to the repository's history. It allows you to switch branches without committing incomplete work.

How to delete Git stash

Deleting a specific stash

If you want to delete a specific stash from the stash list, you first need to identify it. Use the following command to list all stashes with their indices:

git stash list

Each entry in the stash list is prefixed with stash@{index}, where index is a number identifying the position of the stash in the stash stack. The most recently created stash has the index 0.

To delete a specific stash, use:

git stash drop stash@{index}

Replace {index} with the number of the stash you want to delete. For example, if you want to delete the third stash in the list:

git stash drop stash@{2}

Deleting the last stash

The last stash is always stash@{0}. If you want to delete the most recently created stash, you can use:

git stash drop stash@{0}

Or simply:

git stash drop

This command, without any arguments, defaults to deleting the last stash.

Deleting all stashes

If you decide to clean up all stashed changes, Git provides a straightforward command to clear the entire stash list:

git stash clear

This command will remove all stashes and is irreversible, so make sure that you no longer need any of the stashed changes before executing it.

Considerations when deleting stashes

• Review before deleting: Always review the contents of a stash before deleting it to ensure that you are not losing important work. You can inspect the contents of a stash by using:

  Terminal

  git stash show -p stash@{index}
  
  

  Add the -p option to show the actual changes in patch form.

• Backup stashes: If you are unsure about deleting a stash but want to clean up, consider applying the stash to a new branch where you can commit the changes permanently:

  Terminal

  git stash branch new-branch-name stash@{index}
  
  

  This creates a new branch with the stashed changes applied, allowing you to review them in isolation.

For further reading see this guide on how to use the Git stash command.