How do I recover a dropped stash in Git?

There are several methods to recover lost commits in Git.

Method 1: Using git reflog

Git's reflog feature records changes to the HEAD and branch references in the local repository. This is typically the first step for recovering lost commits.

Steps:

1. Open the terminal and navigate to your Git project directory.
2. Run git reflog to view the recent commit history.
3. Locate the hash of the lost commit you want to recover.
4. You can switch to that commit using git checkout <commit-hash>, or reset your current branch to that commit using git reset --hard <commit-hash>.

Example:

Suppose you lost an important commit. After running git reflog, you find the commit hash d4c3a0e. You can execute git checkout d4c3a0e to view the contents of that commit, or if you confirm you want to reset your branch to that point, you can execute git reset --hard d4c3a0e.

Method 2: Using git fsck

The git fsck command can be used to check for 'dangling' objects in the Git database, which may represent lost commits resulting from accidental operations.

Steps:

1. In the terminal, run git fsck --lost-found.
2. Check for 'dangling' commits in the output.
3. Use git log <dangling-commit-hash> to view the lost commit.
4. If you confirm it is the commit you want to recover, you can merge it into your current branch using git merge <dangling-commit-hash> or cherry-pick it using git cherry-pick <dangling-commit-hash>.

Example:

After running git fsck --lost-found, I found a dangling commit e3a1b35. By checking git log e3a1b35, I confirmed it is the lost commit. Then I used git cherry-pick e3a1b35 to apply this commit to my current branch.

Method 3: Check Backups and Remote Repositories

If the above methods fail to recover or locate the lost commit, the last resort is to check for backups or verify if the commits still exist in a remote repository.

Steps:

1. Check for any backups or other collaborators' local repositories.
2. Use git fetch to update data from the remote repository.
3. Check the commit history of the remote branch.

These methods typically help recover most Git commits lost due to operational errors. It is essential to regularly push to the remote repository and back up your work to prevent such issues.