Stash only one file out of multiple files that hav

Question

How can I stash only one of multiple changed files on my branch?

Answer 1

When git stash -p (or git add -p with stash --keep-index) would be too cumbersome, I found it easier to use diff, checkout and apply:

To "stash" a particular file/dir only:

git diff path/to/dir > stashed.diff
git checkout path/to/dir

Then afterwards

git apply stashed.diff

Answer 2

Let's say you have 3 files

a.rb
b.rb
c.rb

and you want to stash only b.rb and c.rb but not a.rb

you can do something like this

# commit the files temporarily you don't want to stash
git add a.rb
git commit -m "temp" 

# then stash the other files
git stash save "stash message"

# then undo the previous temp commit
git reset --soft HEAD^
git reset

And you are done! HTH.

Answer 3

This can be done easily in 3 steps using SourceTree.

1. Temporarily commit everything you don't want stashed.
2. Git add everything else, then stash it.
3. Pop your temporary commit by running git reset, targetting the commit before your temporary one.

This can all be done in a matter of seconds in SourceTree, where you can just click on the files (or even individual lines) you want to add. Once added, just commit them to a temporary commit. Next, click the checkbox to add all changes, then click stash to stash everything. With the stashed changes out of the way, glance over at your commit list and note the hash for the commit before your temporary commit, then run 'git reset hash_b4_temp_commit', which is basically like "popping" the commit by resetting your branch to the commit right before it. Now, you're left with just the stuff you didn't want stashed.

Answer 4

The problem with VonC's `intermediate' solution of copying files to outside the Git repo is that you lose path information, which makes copying a bunch of files back later on somewhat of a hassle.

A find it easier to use tar (similar tools will probably do) instead of copy:

• tar cvf /tmp/stash.tar path/to/some/file path/to/some/other/file (... etc.)
• git checkout path/to/some/file path/to/some/other/file
• git stash
• tar xvf /tmp/stash.tar
• etc. (see VonC's `intermediate' suggestion)

Answer 5

One complicated way would be to first commit everything:

git add -u
git commit // creates commit with sha-1 A

Reset back to the original commit but checkout the_one_file from the new commit:

git reset --hard HEAD^
git checkout A path/to/the_one_file

Now you can stash the_one_file:

git stash

Cleanup by saving the committed content in your file system while resetting back to the original commit:

git reset --hard A
git reset --soft HEAD^

Yeah, somewhat awkward...

Answer 6

Since git is fundamentally about managing a all repository content and index (and not one or several files), git stash deals, not surprisingly, with the all working directory.

Actually, since Git 2.13 (Q2 2017), you can stash individual files, with git stash push:

git stash push [--] [<pathspec>...]

When pathspec is given to 'git stash push', the new stash records the modified states only for the files that match the pathspec

See "Stash changes to specific files" for more.

The test case is self-explanatory:

test_expect_success 'stash with multiple pathspec arguments' '
    >foo &&
    >bar &&
    >extra &&
    git add foo bar extra &&

    git stash push -- foo bar &&   

    test_path_is_missing bar &&
    test_path_is_missing foo &&
    test_path_is_file extra &&

    git stash pop &&
    test_path_is_file foo &&
    test_path_is_file bar &&
    test_path_is_file extra

---

The original answer (below, June 2010) was about manually selecting what you want to stash.

Casebash comments:

This (the stash --patch original solution) is nice, but often I've modified a lot of files so using patch is annoying

bukzor's answer (upvoted, November 2011) suggests a more practical solution, based on
git add + git stash --keep-index.
Go see and upvote his answer, which should be the official one (instead of mine).

About that option, chhh points out an alternative workflow in the comments:

you should "git reset --soft" after such a stash to get your clear staging back:
In order to get to the original state - which is a clear staging area and with only some select un-staged modifications, one could softly reset the index to get (without committing anything like you - bukzor - did).

---

(Original answer June 2010: manual stash)

Yet, git stash save --patch could allows you to achieve the partial stashing you are after:

With --patch, you can interactively select hunks from in the diff between HEAD and the working tree to be stashed.
The stash entry is constructed such that its index state is the same as the index state of your repository, and its worktree contains only the changes you selected interactively. The selected changes are then rolled back from your worktree.

However that will save the full index (which may not be what you want since it might include other files already indexed), and a partial worktree (which could look like the one you want to stash).

git stash --patch --no-keep-index

might be a better fit.

---

If --patch doesn't work, a manual process might:

For one or several files, an intermediate solution would be to:

• copy them outside the Git repo
  (Actually, eleotlecram proposes an interesting alternative)
• git stash
• copy them back
• git stash # this time, only the files you want are stashed
• git stash pop stash@{1} # re-apply all your files modifications
• git checkout -- afile # reset the file to the HEAD content, before any local modifications

At the end of that rather cumbersome process, you will have only one or several files stashed.