How to Delete a Git Stash

Git stash is a feature in the Git version control system that allows us to temporarily save changes without committing them. When we run the git stash command, Git takes all the changes in the working directory that are not yet committed and saves them in a "stash" - a stash is a temporary storage area.

The stash is useful when we need to switch to another branch to work on a different feature, but we don't want to commit our current changes yet. Instead, we can stash the changes, switch to the other branch, do the work there, and then come back to the original branch and apply the stash to restore the changes.

We can also use Git stash when we want to switch to a different task or take a break from the work, but we don't want to commit the changes yet. By stashing the changes, we can keep the working directory clean and avoid cluttering the commit history with unfinished work.

Despite its advantages, the stashing a lot of files and changes can quickly become a disadvantage and messy making it hard to track any changes. This may require you to cleanup the git stash manually.

Let us dive in.

Requirements

Git installed on your system.
A Git repository.

How to Delete a Git Stash

Let us now discuss the various methods and commands we can use to drop the most recent stash.

How to Delete the Most Recent Stash

To remove the most recent stash from the repository, run the command:

git stash pop

It is good to keep in mind that the command above will remove the most recent stash without any prompt or warning. Be careful when using this command and ensure you certain of the stash removal.

How to Delete a Specific Stash

We can also remove a specific stash. By default, git stores the most recent stash in the refs/stash directory. Earlier stashes are then referenced by the reflog on the refsdirectory.

The reflog syntax is as shown:

stash@{n}

Where the notation {n} refers to the stash index. Hence, the most recent stash will have an index of 0 and the value increases by one for each subsequent index.

To delete a specific index, we can start by fetching the target stash using the list command as shown:

git stash list

The command will return a list of all the stashes and the respective indexes.

Once you get the target stash, run the drop command as shown:

git stash drop stash@{10}

In this case, the command should remove the stash at index 10.

Git Delete All Stashes

If you are looking for a more destructive and all purpose command, you can use the clear command to remove all the stashes within the repository. The command is as shown below:

git stash clear

NOTE: This command is destructive, it will automatically delete all the stashes in the repo without prompt or warning. BE CAREFUL!!

Ending...

In this post, you learned the various ways of manually deleting a git stash using the git stash command. You also learned how you can clear all git stashes in a single command.

Leave us a comment down below for any ways we can improve or let us know what you think.