How do I resolve git saying “Commit your changes or stash them before you can merge”?

While the command

git reset --hard

can indeed resolve the issue of Git saying “Commit your changes or stash them before you can merge,” it’s important to note that this command is quite aggressive and can potentially result in the loss of uncommitted changes.

A better approach to resolve this issue while preserving your changes is to follow these steps:

Commit Your Changes: If you have changes that you want to keep, but you’re not ready to commit them yet, you can create a temporary commit using the following commands:

git add . 
git commit -m "Temporary commit"

Merge or Pull: After committing your changes, try to merge or pull again. If you encounter conflicts during the merge or pull process, Git will prompt you to resolve them.

Restore Uncommitted Changes: If you’ve already committed your changes but still encounter the issue, use the following command to stash your changes temporarily:

git stash

Merge or Pull Again: Once your changes are stashed, you can proceed with the merge or pull operation. Afterward, you can restore your stashed changes using:

git stash apply

By following these steps, you can resolve the “Commit your changes or stash them before you can merge” error in Git while ensuring that your changes are safely preserved. Remember to use git reset --hard cautiously, as it can lead to irreversible data loss.