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Shadow Smith
Shadow Smith

Posted on • Updated on

Bulk deleting local Git branches using Regex

If you are reading this, you obviously have a need to bulk delete local Git branches because you are crushing all of your assigned Work Items.

So here's a shortcut to clean up your local environment.

Write your dry run using regex using this command formula:

git branch | grep [regex expression goes here]

So for example, to view all local branches that are prefixed with "feature", you would use the command.

git branch | grep feature*

Once you run that command and triple check that you wish to delete all of the local branches that are returned, run this command to delete them.

git branch | grep feature* | xargs git branch -D

BONUS TIP:
Here's how to delete all local branches except for master.

git branch | grep -v "master" | xargs git branch -D

You're welcome!

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