How to delete a Git branch locally and remotely?
By: Steven Hough
Tags: Version Control, Github, Git Branch, Git, Delete All Data

layman’s terms of delete branch

$ git push -d <remote_name> <branch_name>

$ git branch -d <branch_name>

Note that in most cases the remote name is origin . In such a case you'll have to use the command like so.

$ git push -d origin <branch_name>

Deleting a remote branch

git push origin --delete <branch> # Git version 1.7.0 or newer

git push origin -d <branch> # Shorter version (Git 1.7.0 or newer)

git push origin :<branch> # Git versions older than 1.7.0

Deleting a local branch

git branch --delete <branch>

git branch -d <branch> # Shorter version

git branch -D <branch> # Force-delete un-merged branches

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." [Source: man git-branch ]

Also note that git branch -d branch_name will fail if you are currently in the branch you want to remove. The message starts with error: Cannot delete the branch 'branch_name' . If so, first switch to some other branch, for example: git checkout master .

Deleting a local remote-tracking branch

git branch --delete --remotes <remote>/<branch>

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

git fetch <remote> -p # Shorter

There are three different branches to delete!

When you’re dealing with deleting branches both locally and remotely, keep in mind that there are three different branches involved:

The local branch X . The remote origin branch X . The local remote-tracking branch origin/X that tracks the remote branch X .

The original poster used:

git branch -rd origin/bugfix

Which only deleted his local remote-tracking branch origin/bugfix , and not the actual remote branch bugfix on origin .

To delete that actual remote branch, you need

git push origin --delete bugfix

Additional details

The following sections describe additional details to consider when deleting your remote and remote-tracking branches.

Pushing to delete remote branches also removes remote-tracking branches

Note that deleting the remote branch X from the command line using a git push will also remove the local remote-tracking branch origin/X , so it is not necessary to prune the obsolete remote-tracking branch with git fetch --prune or git fetch -p . However, it wouldn't hurt if you did it anyway.

You can verify that the remote-tracking branch origin/X was also deleted by running the following:

# View just remote-tracking branches

git branch --remotes

git branch -r # View both strictly local as well as remote-tracking branches

git branch --all

git branch -a

Pruning the obsolete local remote-tracking branch origin/X

If you didn’t delete your remote branch X from the command line (like above), then your local repository will still contain (a now obsolete) remote-tracking branch origin/X . This can happen if you deleted a remote branch directly through GitHub's web interface, for example.

A typical way to remove these obsolete remote-tracking branches (since Git version 1.6.6) is to simply run git fetch with the --prune or shorter -p . Note that this removes all obsolete local remote-tracking branches for any remote branches that no longer exist on the remote:

git fetch origin --prune

git fetch origin -p # Shorter

Here is the relevant quote from the 1.6.6 release notes (emphasis mine):

“git fetch” learned --all and --multiple options, to run fetch from many repositories, and --prune option to remove remote tracking branches that went stale. These make "git remote update" and "git remote prune" less necessary (there is no plan to remove "remote update" nor "remote prune", though).

Alternative to above automatic pruning for obsolete remote-tracking branches

Alternatively, instead of pruning your obsolete local remote-tracking branches through git fetch -p , you can avoid making the extra network operation by just manually removing the branch(es) with the --remote or -r flags:

git branch --delete --remotes origin/X

git branch -dr origin/X # Shorter

Reference