If I am in a branch e.g. test and have some work. If I do a git stash and switch to master branch, if I do a git stash clear do I lose the work I saved in test? Or does each branch have a separate stash stack?
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No. Stashes are infact the reflog of a reference (sort of like a 'hidden branch', if you will): refs/stash
So,
git reflog refs/stashe41a1b8 refs/stash@{0}: WIP on master: 42092ec PoCis roughly equivalent to
git stash liststash@{0}: WIP on master: 42092ec PoC
So there's only one "branch" containing all stashes.
The machinery might become more clear in this answer: Is it possible to push a git stash to a remote repository?
you can 'deduce' what branch the stash fits onto by doing, e.g.
git branch -a --contains stash@{0}^(asking: what branches contain the parent revision for this stash?)
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1As you suggested with the quotes around "branch" in the middle, `refs/stash` is not really a branch per se. (It *is* a reference, just as branches and tags are references; but so are notes.) `git stash branch ...` will let you change any given stash *into* a branch, though (by checking out the parent and then creating the new branch and applying the stash). So if you have a stash and decide it should become a branch, that's easy to do. – torek Oct 20 '13 at 21:26
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@torek thanks for that addition. Would you believe I somehow always overlooked `git stash branch` :) Or perhaps my use of git predates that subcommand (?). Anyways, glad to have learned that. – sehe Oct 20 '13 at 21:30