I am working on one branch, and suddenly I have to switch to another branch to fix an urgent bug. The problem is the changes I make to the current branch is still a mess and I do not want to commit that and leave some scrappy commit message.
Is there any way I can save the current changes without commit?
This is a neat little bash function I set up inspired by @jingx's answer:
gcl() {
echo "### Adding any wip files";
git add .;
echo "### Committing files with a temporary commit";
git commit --no-verify -am 'local commit - work in progress';
echo "### Checking out branch";
git checkout "$1";
x="$(git log -1 --pretty=%B)"
if [ "$x" = "local commit - work in progress" ]; then
echo "### Undoing last commit";
git reset --soft HEAD^
else
echo "### Not undoing last commit"
fi
echo "gcl complete"
}
Add it to your .bashrc or .profile and then use gcl my-branch to switch branches and save your work as a local commit and simultaneously unpack your local commits on change.
For example, say you're on branch1 and have uncommitted changes. Just do a
gcl urgent-fix
do whatever you need to do and then hop back
gcl branch1
Your uncommitted changes will be there just like you left them.
Although a commit does take place, it isn't pushed remotely and so can be undone locally without consequence.