Difference between git stash pop and git stash apply

Question

I\'ve been using git stash pop for quite some time. I recently found out about the git stash apply command. When I tried it out, it seemed to work

Answer 1

Seeing it in action might help you better understanding the difference.

Assuming we're working on master branch and have a file hello.txt that contains "Hello" string.

Let's modify the file and add " world" string to it. Now you want to move to a different branch to fix a minor bug you've just found, so you need to stash your changes:

git stash

You moved to the other branch, fixed the bug and now you're ready to continue working on your master branch, so you pop the changes:

git stash pop

Now if you try to review the stash content you'll get:

$ git stash show -p
No stash found.

However, if you use git stash apply instead, you'll get the stashed content but you'll also keep it:

$ git stash show -p
diff --git a/hello.txt b/hello.txt
index e965047..802992c 100644
--- a/hello.txt
+++ b/hello.txt
@@ -1 +1 @@
-Hello
+Hello world

So pop is just like stack's pop - it actually removes the element once it's popped, while apply is more like peek.