How to delete local and remote git branch?

This blog will help you to delete a local git repository branch.

Local and remote branches are completely separate objects in git; deleting one wouldn’t delete the other, even if there is a tracking connections between them. So, if you have to delete both local and remote branches, delete them separately.

There are 3 different branches that need to be deleted in git:

1. The local <branch>
2. The remote origin/<branch>
3. The local remote-tracking branch origin/<branch> that tracks the remote <branch>

Git delete a local branch

Note: You can not delete active branch, hence checkout another branch using below command first.

$ git checkout <other_branch_name>

The -d option is an alias for --delete, which only deletes the branch, if it has already been fully merged in its upstream branch. You could also use -D, which is an alias for --delete --force, which deletes the branch “irrespective of its merged status.”

$ git branch -d <branch_name_to_delete>     # Syntex
$ git branch -d issue-47                    # Example - command to delete `issue-47` branch.

Force delete un-merged branches

$ git branch -D <branch_name_to_delete> # Syntex
$ git branch -D issue-47                # Example - short for of force delete `issue-47` branch.
$ git branch --delete --force issue-47  # Example - command to force delete `issue-47` branch.

Note: If the branch has a reflog, it will be deleted either.

The -f or --force flag in combination with -d (or --delete), allows deleting the branch containing unmerged changes.

Note: Use the -f flag very carefully, as it easily may cause data loss.

Git Delete remote branch

To delete a remote branch use git push command with the --delete flag as given below:

Syntex:

$ git push <remote_name> --delete <branch_name>
### In most of the case remote name will be `origin`, lets delete `issue-41` branch from remote `origin`.
$ git push origin --delete issue-41

Git delete branch in versions older than 1.7.0

$ git push origin :<branch>     # Syntex
$ git push origin :issue-41     # Example

Delete a local remote-tracking branch

A tracking branch in Git is a local branch that is connected to a remote branch. Following are the commands to delete local remote-tracking branch.

$ git branch --delete --remotes <remote>/<branch>
$ git branch -dr <remote>/<branch> # Shorter
$ git fetch <remote> --prune # Delete multiple obsolete tracking branches
$ git fetch <remote> -p # Shorter

Happy reading..