💡Learned git stash the Practical Way

The Mistake 🧯

So today at my internship, I jumped into a bug fix task — but completely forgot the basic Git rule:
Always create a new branch from updated main before starting work.

What I did instead:
I started working directly on an older branch that was meant for some previous task.

Why is that bad?

• Your current work mixes up with older unrelated changes.

• It becomes hard to track what's what.

• If you push, you might mess up the history or reopen an already-closed task.

• Worst: someone reviewing your PR will be totally confused.

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How I Fixed It 🔧 (With git stash)

I knew about git stash in theory but never used it practically. So, I asked my mentor to walk me through it. Here’s the exact flow we followed:

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🛠 Git Fix Flow

1. Stash your current changes
   (from project root or wherever inside the repo)

    git stash
   

   ⏳ This temporarily stores your uncommitted changes in a hidden stack. Your working directory is now clean.

2. Switch to main & update it

    git checkout main
    git pull origin main
   

   🧠 Always update main so your new branch is based on the latest code.

3. Create and switch to a new branch

    git checkout -b bugfix/fix-some-issue
   

4. Apply your stashed changes

    git stash pop
   

   💥 This brings back your changes into the current (correct) branch.

5. Stage, commit, and push

    git add .
    git commit -m "Fix: corrected logic for XYZ"
    git push origin bugfix/fix-some-issue
   

   ⚠️ Don’t accidentally type main when pushing. I did that once — wrong branch, wrong push.

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🧠 What I Learned

• Never skip the “create new branch from updated main” step — it's not optional.

• git stash is a lifesaver for moving changes safely between branches.

• Typing git push origin main when you're on a different branch can cause serious headaches 😅

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🧾 Quick Recap: git stash Flow

# Save your work
git stash

# Switch and update main
git checkout main
git pull origin main

# Create and switches to a new branch
git checkout -b your-branch-name

# Bring back your changes
git stash pop

# Stage, commit, and push
git add .
git commit -m "Your message"
git push origin your-branch-name

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That's it. Simple mistake, useful recovery — and now it’s burned into memory 🔥
Hope this helps someone avoid the same!

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