Git: Delete merged branches

Problem

I build an app and use git branches.

Branches sum up, I don't know which branches are already merged into master and I lose overview.

git branch

Solution (Linux)

I need a command that checks if a branch is merged into master and if it is merged, it should get deleted locally.

1. git checkout master (or whatever branch you want to compare to)

2. git branch --merged | egrep -v "(^\*|master|dev)" | xargs git branch -d

Explanation

1. git branch --merged: List all branches whose tips are reachable from the specified commit (HEAD if not specified).
2. egrep -v "(^\*|master|dev)": Search for all lines that do not start with * (= the current branch), or don't have master or dev in it.
3. xargs git branch -d: Execute the command to delete all found branches from step 2.

Further Reading

• Stackoverflow
• Windows: read the comments

Comments

[Maroun Maroun]

Add it as an alias in your ~/.gitconfig:

[alias]
    delete-merged = git branch --merged | egrep -v "(^\*|master|dev)" | xargs git branch -d

[miku86]

Great idea!

[ThinkDigitalSoftware]

Hey, is this a post with a solution? Do you have a complete script?

[miku86]

Hey,

there is the Solution (Linux)-section with the two-step solution.
For Windows, there is a link in the Further Reading-section