Timeline for How do I delete a Git branch locally and remotely?

Current License: CC BY-SA 4.0

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Jun 1 at 3:09 comment added Duncan MacIntyre Great answer—I appreciate how the visuals explain why! You could consider making the "short answer" even shorter (e.g. list only the short versions of commands, choose one of -d and -D and note the other as per @Eric Brotto). The alternate forms can follow below.
Jan 5 at 0:40 comment added Gabriel Staples It should be noted that running git push origin --delete <branch>, as far as I can tell, ALSO deletes the locally-stored remote-tracking branch named origin/branch. So, to delete the remote branch AND locally-stored remote-tracking branch in one command, just use git push origin --delete <branch>. Then, you just need to delete the local branch with git branch -D branch. That covers the deletion of all 3 branches with only 2 commands.
Jan 5 at 0:08 comment added Gabriel Staples What happens if you run git fetch --prune, withOUT specifying the remote branch? Does it prune all remotes?
Apr 11 '20 at 11:22 history edited Peter Mortensen CC BY-SA 4.0
Used more standard formatting (we have italics and bold on this platform), etc.
Apr 3 '20 at 20:54 history edited Gabriel Staples CC BY-SA 4.0
minor change for clarity/explicitness, & spelling
Apr 3 '20 at 20:35 comment added Gabriel Staples I've read all the answers down to here and this is for sure the best answer I've read so far!--(and probably the best one on this page, period). This is especially true because it's the only answer which states this REALLY IMPORTANT fact that I never knew before: "there are 3 different branches to delete!" I had no idea! This all makes so much more sense now, and it sheds so much light on all the other answers here now too. Thanks!
Apr 1 '20 at 17:26 history edited Andras Deak CC BY-SA 4.0
fix markdown abuse
Mar 26 '20 at 10:37 history edited Arsen Khachaturyan CC BY-SA 4.0
added 51 characters in body
Mar 5 '20 at 11:21 comment added David P For the sake of future readers: What @Kermit_ice_tea is talking about above is a local branch (as described in this answer), not a remote-tracking branch. When a local branch has an "upstream branch" configured for it, it will by default pull from and push to that remote branch. A local branch that has an "upstream branch" set on it is referred to as a "tracking branch", so it's easy to confuse with remote-tracking branches due to the similar terminology.
Dec 10 '19 at 16:30 history edited YakovL CC BY-SA 4.0
added a short version of flag
Jun 21 '17 at 19:48 comment added Kermit_ice_tea +1 for the remote tracking branch. This branch is what causes issues when you clone someone else's branch. It keeps on tracking your commits and asking you if you want to push to that person's branch.
Mar 10 '16 at 12:20 history edited Valentin Lorentz CC BY-SA 3.0
HTTPS links and images
Feb 23 '16 at 7:33 comment added user456814 @huggie that's pretty much correct. Branches in Git are just bookmarks attached to commits. So in my graphs above, there are X and origin/X bookmarks in the local clone (2 branches), and then there is X on the remote (making 3 branches).
Feb 18 '16 at 2:00 comment added huggie From your illustration, I can see there are local clone repo and remote origin repo. So there are at least two physical branches. Where is the third branch to delete? Is the third branch only a pointer pointing to a commit in the local clone repo?
Aug 4 '14 at 15:01 history edited user456814 CC BY-SA 3.0
Changed documentation anchor text and formatting, because I hated the previous formatting.
Jul 31 '14 at 6:45 history edited user456814 CC BY-SA 3.0
Add dash.
Jul 30 '14 at 19:13 history edited user456814 CC BY-SA 3.0
Updated.
Jul 30 '14 at 16:51 history edited user456814 CC BY-SA 3.0
Updated formatting.
Jul 29 '14 at 4:52 history edited user456814 CC BY-SA 3.0
Updated diagrams.
Jul 29 '14 at 4:41 history edited user456814 CC BY-SA 3.0
Removed more redundancy.
Jul 29 '14 at 4:32 history edited user456814 CC BY-SA 3.0
Removed unnecessary redundant sections, clarified answer generally, improved formatting.
Jul 28 '14 at 7:56 history edited user456814 CC BY-SA 3.0
Updated documentation links.
Jul 21 '14 at 17:22 history edited user456814 CC BY-SA 3.0
Shortened commands.
Jul 21 '14 at 15:59 history edited user456814 CC BY-SA 3.0
Updated branch names.
Jul 21 '14 at 15:46 history edited user456814 CC BY-SA 3.0
Added "short answer" section for those people who don't want to bother reading a long explanation. Also removed link to top-voted answer because I don't copy it verbatim, and the long explanation of the link detracts from the clarity of my own answer.
Jul 21 '14 at 4:05 history edited user456814 CC BY-SA 3.0
Updated header.
Jul 10 '14 at 18:04 history edited user456814 CC BY-SA 3.0
Add pictures.
Jul 10 '14 at 17:58 history edited user456814 CC BY-SA 3.0
Add picture.
Jul 8 '14 at 0:52 history edited user456814 CC BY-SA 3.0
Updated formatting, clarified.
Jun 29 '14 at 11:58 audit First posts
Jun 29 '14 at 11:59
Jun 11 '14 at 14:34 history edited user456814 CC BY-SA 3.0
Made it clearer that the alternative pruning method is only an option when the remote branch is already deleted.
Jun 6 '14 at 1:00 history edited user456814 CC BY-SA 3.0
Added a tl;dr summar header section.
Jun 5 '14 at 22:22 history edited user456814 CC BY-SA 3.0
Clarified why the original poster's original attempts to delete the remote branch didn't work.
Jun 5 '14 at 22:03 history edited user456814 CC BY-SA 3.0
Added warning that all obsolete remote-tracking branches are pruned, fixed typo.
Jun 5 '14 at 21:56 history edited user456814 CC BY-SA 3.0
Greatly clarified answer.
Jun 5 '14 at 21:32 history edited user456814 CC BY-SA 3.0
Use better formatting for quote.
Jun 4 '14 at 19:55 history edited user456814 CC BY-SA 3.0
Made answer for comprehensive by including alternative solutions.
Jun 3 '14 at 14:37 history edited user456814 CC BY-SA 3.0
Added version differences for deleting remote branches.
Jun 2 '14 at 13:23 history edited user456814 CC BY-SA 3.0
Fixed syntax highlighting.
May 30 '14 at 19:01 history edited user456814 CC BY-SA 3.0
Corrected header.
May 30 '14 at 18:45 history edited user456814 CC BY-SA 3.0
Added relevant release notes.
May 30 '14 at 18:32 history answered user456814 CC BY-SA 3.0
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