Junio C Hamano <gitster@xxxxxxxxx> writes: > "Vromen, Tomer" <tomer.vromen@xxxxxxxxx> writes: > >>> git stash && git checkout -b new-feature-branch && git stash pop >> >> This is useful when I realize that I want to open a new branch for my changes (that I haven't committed yet). >> However, I might have forgotten to save my changes in the editor, so git-stash will give this error: >> >> No local changes to save > > This is given with "say" and not with "die", as this is merely an > informational diagnosis. The command did not find any erroneous > condition, the command did not fail to do anything it was supposed > to do, so the command exited with 0 status. I guess that is only half an answer. If you really want to avoid creating the new branch when the working tree and the index are clean, you'd need to check that yourself before that three-command sequence. In our shell script, we use these as such a check: git update-index --refresh -q --ignore-submodules git diff-files --quiet --ignore-submodules && git diff-index --cached --quiet --ignore-submodules HEAD -- But stepping back a bit, why do you even need stash save/pop around "checkout -b new-feature-branch" (that implicitly branches at the tip) in the first place? "checkout -b" that begins at the current HEAD does not touch the index nor the working tree and take the local changes with you to the new branch, so save/pop around it seems totally pointless.