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Editorial Team
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Asked: 2026-06-10T05:15:14+00:00

For example, I create file a in the repo(suppose I’m on the master branch),

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For example, I create file a in the repo(suppose I’m on the master branch),
then I git add a and git commit.
After that I git branch copy and git checkout copy.
Finaly I create file b in the word directory then git add b.

Git seems to be smart when I checkout back to the master branch, and git ls-files, file b is not listed.

So I’m confused, since we only have one index file in a repo, how can git maintain different staging area for branches at the same time?

EDIT:

How to explain the files which are staged but not commited, is still remembered per branch?

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1 Answer

  1. Editorial Team

    I’ve not dived into the implementation in detail but when you switch a branch, the index file is manually updated to reflect the content of the new HEAD.

    For example, I have to branches here master (with one file) and test (with two files). 

    noufal@sanitarium% git branch
  master
* test
noufal@sanitarium% file .git/index
.git/index: Git index, version 2, 2 entries
noufal@sanitarium% git checkout master
Switched to branch 'master'
noufal@sanitarium% file .git/index
.git/index: Git index, version 2, 1 entries

    It’s changed the index when the branch switching happened.

    Also, if you “manually” switching branches, git doesn’t update the index and gets confused. Continuing from above. 

    noufal@sanitarium% more .git/HEAD
ref: refs/heads/master
noufal@sanitarium% echo "ref: refs/heads/test" > .git/HEAD
noufal@sanitarium% file .git/index
.git/index: Git index, version 2, 1 entries
noufal@sanitarium% git status
# On branch test
# Changes to be committed:
#   (use "git reset HEAD <file>..." to unstage)
#
#       deleted:    b
#

    In other words, the index has a missing file which is there in the current repository so it’s “staged for delete”.

    As for switching branches after staging, the index is a separate area which doesn’t change. 

    noufal@sanitarium% git branch
* master
  test
noufal@sanitarium% ls
x
noufal@sanitarium% git status
# On branch master 
nothing to commit (working directory clean)
noufal@sanitarium% git checkout test
Switched to branch 'test'
noufal@sanitarium% ls
x
noufal@sanitarium% echo "Something" > b
noufal@sanitarium% git add b
noufal@sanitarium% git status
# On branch test   
# Changes to be committed:
#   (use "git reset HEAD <file>..." to unstage)
#
#       new file:   b
#
noufal@sanitarium% git checkout master
A       b
Switched to branch 'master'
noufal@sanitarium% git status                    # Also there in index on master branch.
# On branch master 
# Changes to be committed:
#   (use "git reset HEAD <file>..." to unstage)
#
#       new file:   b
#
noufal@sanitarium% git commit -m "Added b in master"
[master 41d0c68] Added b in master
 1 file changed, 1 insertion(+)
 create mode 100644 b
noufal@sanitarium% git status
# On branch master 
nothing to commit (working directory clean)
noufal@sanitarium% git checkout test
Switched to branch 'test'
noufal@sanitarium% ls                           # Missing in the test branch although it was `git add`ed here. 
x
noufal@sanitarium%
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