How to resolve git stash conflict without commit?

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As asked in this question, I also want to know how to resolve a conflicting git stash pop without adding all modifications to a commit (just like “git stash pop” without a conflict does).

My current approach is very uncool because I do it this way:

git stash pop  # -> CONFLICT
git stash drop
# [resolve conflict]
# [add conflict files]
git reset HEAD # <all files that are in commit-mode>

How to reproduce:

mkdir foo; cd foo; git init
echo "1" > one
echo "2" > two
git add -A; git commit -m "first"
echo "1.1" > one
echo "2.1" > two
git stash
echo "2.2" > two
git commit -a -m "second"
echo "Only this file would stay in HEAD without the conflict" > third
git add third
git stash pop
git status

2016-06-27: Added a new file called ‘third’ to the example to show that workarounds like the solution from scy only work for empty HEADs but don’t fix the initial problem that the HEAD doesn’t have the same content like for a git stash pop without a conflict.

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Don’t follow other answers…

Well, you can follow them, of course. 🙂 But I don’t think that doing a commit and then resetting the branch to remove the commit you just created and similar workarounds suggested in other answers is the clean way to solve this issue.

Clean solution

The following solution seems to be much cleaner to me and it’s also suggested by the Git itself — try to execute git status in the repository with a conflict:

Unmerged paths:
  (use "git restore --staged <file>..." to unstage)
  (use "git add <file>..." to mark resolution)

Note: The restore command has been introduced in Git version 2.23.0. Older versions of Git suggested to use the command git reset HEAD <file>... instead of git restore --staged <file>.... You could also use git reset to unstage any and all files in the staging area (called the index). Restore command’s equivalent is git restore --staged . (the dot is necessary and it specifies any file). Currently, any of those commands may be used and the outcome is the same. If you want to learn about the differences between those commands, check the documentation.

So let’s do what Git suggests (without making and reverting any pointless commits):

  1. Manually (or ideally using some merge tool, see below) resolve the conflict(s).
  2. Use git restore --staged . to mark conflict(s) as resolved and unstage all files in the staging area. If you want to unstage only specific files, use the command git restore --staged <file> instead. You don’t have to execute git add before.
  3. Finally, remove the stash with git stash drop, because Git doesn’t do that automatically on conflict.

Translated to the command-line commands:

$ git stash pop

# ...resolve conflict(s)

$ git restore --staged .

$ git stash drop

Explanation of the default behavior

There are two ways of marking conflicts as resolved: git add and git restore --staged <file>.... While git restore --staged <file>... marks the conflicts as resolved and removes files from the index, git add also marks the conflicts as resolved, but keeps files in the index.

Adding files to the index after a conflict is resolved is on purpose. This way you can differentiate the changes from the previous stash and changes you made after the conflict was resolved. If you don’t like it, you can always use git restore --staged . to remove everything from the index.

Merge tools

I highly recommend using any of 3-way merge tools for resolving conflicts, e.g. KDiff3, Meld, etc., instead of doing it manually. It usually solves all or the majority of conflicts automatically itself. It’s huge time-saver!

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