How GIT STASH and POP works?

Can we run multiple GIT STASH ?

 Yes. You can have multiple stashes. Every time you run git stash, Git creates a new stash entry and stores it in a stack (Last-In, First-Out), as long as you have changes to stash.

Example

Step 1: Modify 5 files

app.js
login.js
user.js
config.js
api.js

Run:

git stash

Now:

• Working tree is clean.

• Git creates:

stash@{0}  ← contains 5 files

---

Step 2: Modify 2 more files

payment.js
checkout.js

Run:

git stash

Now Git creates another stash.

stash@{0}  ← payment.js, checkout.js
stash@{1}  ← app.js, login.js, user.js, config.js, api.js

Notice that the newest stash is always stash@{0}.

---

View all stashes

git stash list

Example output:

stash@{0}: WIP on feature/payment
stash@{1}: WIP on feature/login

---

Restore the latest stash

git stash pop

This restores:

payment.js
checkout.js

Now the stash list becomes:

stash@{0}  ← app.js, login.js, user.js, config.js, api.js

The older stash moves up because the latest one was removed.

---

Restore a specific stash

Suppose you want the older one first:

git stash apply stash@{1}

or

git stash pop stash@{1}

• apply restores it without deleting it.

• pop restores it and removes it from the stash list.

---

Think of it as a stack of books

Imagine each git stash puts your current work into a new box and stacks it on top.

Top
┌─────────────────────────────┐
│ stash@{0} → 2 files         │
├─────────────────────────────┤
│ stash@{1} → 5 files         │
├─────────────────────────────┤
│ stash@{2} → Older stash     │
└─────────────────────────────┘
Bottom

When you run:

git stash pop

Git takes the top box (stash@{0}), restores those changes, and removes that box from the stack.

---

Key points

• ✅ You can create multiple stashes.

• ✅ Each git stash creates a new, separate snapshot of your current changes.

• ✅ git stash list shows all stashes.

• ✅ git stash pop restores the latest stash by default.

• ✅ git stash apply restores a stash but leaves it in the stash list.

• ✅ You can restore a specific stash using its identifier, such as stash@{1}.

This makes git stash very useful when you're interrupted multiple times and need to save different sets of unfinished work independently.