How do I delete a Git branch locally and remotely?

Question

I want to delete a branch both locally and remotely.

Failed Attempts to Delete a Remote Branch

$ git branch -d remotes/origin/bugfix
error: branch 'remotes/origin/bugfix' not found.

$ git branch -d origin/bugfix
error: branch 'origin/bugfix' not found.

$ git branch -rd origin/bugfix
Deleted remote branch origin/bugfix (was 2a14ef7).

$ git push
Everything up-to-date

$ git pull
From github.com:gituser/gitproject

* [new branch] bugfix -> origin/bugfix
Already up-to-date.

What should I do differently to successfully delete the remotes/origin/bugfix branch both locally and remotely?

Answer 1

Using Git Bash you can execute the following:

git branch --delete <branch>

Or

-

From the GitHub desktop application, when you have the branch checked out, you can delete the local branch via the Branch menu strip:

If you are not using the GitHub desktop application and are using an IDE like Visual Studio for your local source control, all you have to do is a couple of quick steps:

1. Check out a branch other than the one you wish to delete.
2. Right-click the branch you wish to delete.
3. Select the Delete option from the context menu.

Then, once logged in to your GitHub account online, go to the repository and click the All Branches tab. From there, just click the little trash can icon on the right on the name of the branch you wish to delete.

*Keep in mind - if the branch isn't published, there isn't any need to try to delete it from your online repository.

Answer 2

I added the following aliases to my .gitconfig file. This allows me to delete branches with or without specifying the branch name. Branch name is defaulted to the current branch if no argument is passed in.

[alias]
    branch-name = rev-parse --abbrev-ref HEAD     

    rm-remote-branch = !"f() { branch=${1-$(git branch-name)}; git push origin :$branch; }; f"
    rm-local-branch = !"f() { branch=${1-$(git branch-name)}; git checkout master; git branch -d $branch; }; f"
    rm-branch-fully = !"f() { branch=${1-$(git branch-name)}; git rm-local-branch $branch; git rm-remote-branch $branch; }; f"

Answer 3

To delete locally - (normal)

git branch -d my_branch

If your branch is in a rebasing/merging progress and that was not done properly, it means you will get an error, Rebase/Merge in progress, so in that case, you won't be able to delete your branch.

So either you need to solve the rebasing/merging. Otherwise, you can do force delete by using,

git branch -D my_branch

To delete in remote:

git push --delete origin my_branch

You can do the same using:

git push origin :my_branch   # Easy to remember both will do the same.

Graphical representation:

Answer 4

Steps for deleting a branch:

For deleting the remote branch:

git push origin --delete <your_branch>

For deleting the local branch, you have three ways:

1: git branch -D <branch_name>

2: git branch --delete --force <branch_name>  # Same as -D

3: git branch --delete  <branch_name>         # Error on unmerge

Explain: OK, just explain what's going on here!

Simply do git push origin --delete to delete your remote branch only, add the name of the branch at the end and this will delete and push it to remote at the same time...

Also, git branch -D, which simply delete the local branch only!...

-D stands for --delete --force which will delete the branch even it's not merged (force delete), but you can also use -d which stands for --delete which throw an error respective of the branch merge status...

I also create the image below to show the steps:

Answer 5

I created the following convenient function in my .bash_aliases file:

git-delete-branch() 
{ 
    if [[ -n $1 ]]; then
        git checkout master > /dev/null;
        branch_name="$1";
        echo "Deleting local $branch_name branch...";
        git branch -D "$branch_name";
        echo "Deleting remote $branch_name branch...";
        git push origin --delete "$branch_name";
        git remote prune origin;
        echo "Your current branches are:";
        git branch -a;
    else
        echo "Usage: git-delete-branch <branch_name>";
    fi
}

Answer 6

According to the latest document using a terminal we can delete in the following way.

Delete in local:

git branch -D usermanagement

Delete in remote location:

git push --delete origin usermanagement

Answer 7

It's very simple:

To delete the remote branch

git push -d origin <branch-name>

Or

git push origin :<branch-name>

-- You can also delete tags with this syntax

To forcefully delete local branch

git branch -D <branch-name>

Note: do a git fetch --all --prune on other machines after deleting remote branch, to remove obsolete tracking branches.

Example

to remove local branch

git branch -D my-local-branch

to remove remote branch

git push origin :my-remote-branch

Answer 8

Both CoolAJ86's and apenwarr's answers are very similar. I went back and forth between the two trying to understand the better approach to support a submodule replacement. Below is a combination of them.

First navigate Git Bash to the root of the Git repository to be split. In my example here that is ~/Documents/OriginalRepo (master)

# Move the folder at prefix to a new branch
git subtree split --prefix=SubFolderName/FolderToBeNewRepo --branch=to-be-new-repo

# Create a new repository out of the newly made branch
mkdir ~/Documents/NewRepo
pushd ~/Documents/NewRepo
git init
git pull ~/Documents/OriginalRepo to-be-new-repo

# Upload the new repository to a place that should be referenced for submodules
git remote add origin git@github.com:myUsername/newRepo.git
git push -u origin master
popd

# Replace the folder with a submodule
git rm -rf ./SubFolderName/FolderToBeNewRepo
git submodule add git@github.com:myUsername/newRepo.git SubFolderName/FolderToBeNewRepo
git branch --delete --force to-be-new-repo

Below is a copy of above with the customize-able names replaced and using HTTPS instead. The root folder is now ~/Documents/_Shawn/UnityProjects/SoProject (master)

# Move the folder at prefix to a new branch
git subtree split --prefix=Assets/SoArchitecture --branch=so-package

# Create a new repository out of the newly made branch
mkdir ~/Documents/_Shawn/UnityProjects/SoArchitecture
pushd ~/Documents/_Shawn/UnityProjects/SoArchitecture
git init
git pull ~/Documents/_Shawn/UnityProjects/SoProject so-package

# Upload the new repository to a place that should be referenced for submodules
git remote add origin https://github.com/Feddas/SoArchitecture.git
git push -u origin master
popd

# Replace the folder with a submodule
git rm -rf ./Assets/SoArchitecture
git submodule add https://github.com/Feddas/SoArchitecture.git
git branch --delete --force so-package

Answer 9

The most flexible way is to use a custom Git command. For example, create the following Python script somewhere in your $PATH under the name git-rmbranch and make it executable:

#!/usr/bin/env python3

import argparse
import subprocess
import sys

def rmbranch(branch_name, remote, force):
    try:
        print(subprocess.run(['git', 'branch', '-D' if force else '-d', branch_name],
                             capture_output=True, check=True, encoding='utf-8').stdout, end='')
    except subprocess.CalledProcessError as exc:
        print(exc.stderr.replace(f'git branch -D {branch_name}', f'git rmbranch -f {branch_name}'), end='')
        return exc.returncode

    return subprocess.run(['git', 'push', remote, '--delete', branch_name]).returncode    

if __name__ == '__main__':
    parser = argparse.ArgumentParser(description='Delete a Git branch locally and remotely.')
    parser.add_argument('-r', '--remote', default='origin', help="The remote name (defaults to 'origin')")
    parser.add_argument('-f', '--force', action='store_true', help='Force deletion of not fully merged branches')
    parser.add_argument('branch_name', help='The branch name')
    args = parser.parse_args()

    sys.exit(rmbranch(args.branch_name, args.remote, args.force))

Then git rmbranch -h will show you usage information:

usage: git-rmbranch [-h] [-r REMOTE] [-f] branch_name

Delete a Git branch locally and remotely.

positional arguments:
  branch_name           The branch name

optional arguments:
  -h, --help            show this help message and exit
  -r REMOTE, --remote REMOTE
                        The remote name (defaults to 'origin')
  -f, --force           Force deletion of not fully merged branches

Note that git push origin --delete <branch_name> also removes the local remote-tracking branch (origin/<branch_name> by default), so no need to care about that.

P.S. You can find the latest version of this Git command here. Comments and suggestions are welcome.

Answer 10

The first few methods did not work for me,

Lets say you have following branch and remote branch,

Local  : Test_Branch
Remote : remotes/origin/feature/Test_FE

Set the upstream correctly for your local branch to track the remote branch you want to delete.

git branch --set-upstream-to=remotes/origin/feature/Test_FE Test_Branch

Then to delete the remote branch execute this

git push origin --delete Test_Branch

Then to delete the local branch execute following command

git branch -D Test_Branch

That's it. Cheers.

Answer 11

here you can delete remote branches corresponding to a glob or any branch name:

git branch -r --list "origin/*" | xargs git branch -r -D