Git stash: "Cannot apply to a dirty working tree, please stage your changes"

You can do this without having to stash your current changes by exporting the stash you want as a patch file and manually applying it.

For example, say you want to apply stash@{0} to a dirty tree:

1. Export stash@{0} as a patch:

   git stash show -p stash@{0} > Stash0.patch
   

2. Manually apply the changes:

   git apply Stash0.patch
   

If the second step fails, you will have to edit the Stash0.patch file to fix any errors and then try git apply again.