https://mishurovsky.com/blog/?go=tags/git/ A blog by George Mishurovsky — a senior software engineer with a medical degree. Drawing from both engineering and scientific thinking, he explores software, architecture, design, psychology, and product thinking. en Aegea 11.3 (v4134e) george@mishurovsky.com A blog by George Mishurovsky — a senior software engineer with a medical degree. Drawing from both engineering and scientific thinking, he explores software, architecture, design, psychology, and product thinking. no 11 https://mishurovsky.com/blog/?go=all/how-to-delete-all-local-git-branches/ Thu, 28 Aug 2025 13:46:06 +0200 https://mishurovsky.com/blog/?go=all/how-to-delete-all-local-git-branches/ <p>First, checkout to main (or any other branch you want to clear from upstream branches).</p> <p>Now, let’s build the command, step by step.</p> <ol start="1"> <li>Check which branches were merged to the current branch:</li> </ol> <div class="e2-code-block" data-language="sh"><div class="e2-code-header"><span class="e2-code-language">Shell</span><button class="e2-code-copy" type="button" aria-label="Copy code to clipboard" data-copy-text="Copy" data-copied-text="Copied!" data-failed-text="Failed"><span class="e2-svgi"><svg xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" viewBox="0 0 16 16"><mask id="cutout"><rect width="100%" height="100%" fill="white"/><rect x="1.75" y="5.25" width="9" height="9" stroke-width="1.33" rx="1" fill="black" stroke="black"/></mask><rect x="5.25" y="1.75" width="9" height="9" rx="1" stroke-width="1.33" fill="none" mask="url(#cutout)"/><rect x="1.75" y="5.25" width="9" height="9" rx="1" stroke-width="1.33" fill="none"/></svg> </span>Copy</button></div><pre><code class="hljs language-sh">git branch --merged</code></pre></div><ol start="2"> <li>Filter out current branch from the output – it is marked by an asterisk (*):</li> </ol> <div class="e2-code-block" data-language="sh"><div class="e2-code-header"><span class="e2-code-language">Shell</span><button class="e2-code-copy" type="button" aria-label="Copy code to clipboard" data-copy-text="Copy" data-copied-text="Copied!" data-failed-text="Failed"><span class="e2-svgi"><svg xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" viewBox="0 0 16 16"><mask id="cutout"><rect width="100%" height="100%" fill="white"/><rect x="1.75" y="5.25" width="9" height="9" stroke-width="1.33" rx="1" fill="black" stroke="black"/></mask><rect x="5.25" y="1.75" width="9" height="9" rx="1" stroke-width="1.33" fill="none" mask="url(#cutout)"/><rect x="1.75" y="5.25" width="9" height="9" rx="1" stroke-width="1.33" fill="none"/></svg> </span>Copy</button></div><pre><code class="hljs language-sh">git branch --merged | grep -v \*</code></pre></div><ol start="3"> <li>Turn the columnar output into a space-separated string:</li> </ol> <div class="e2-code-block" data-language="sh"><div class="e2-code-header"><span class="e2-code-language">Shell</span><button class="e2-code-copy" type="button" aria-label="Copy code to clipboard" data-copy-text="Copy" data-copied-text="Copied!" data-failed-text="Failed"><span class="e2-svgi"><svg xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" viewBox="0 0 16 16"><mask id="cutout"><rect width="100%" height="100%" fill="white"/><rect x="1.75" y="5.25" width="9" height="9" stroke-width="1.33" rx="1" fill="black" stroke="black"/></mask><rect x="5.25" y="1.75" width="9" height="9" rx="1" stroke-width="1.33" fill="none" mask="url(#cutout)"/><rect x="1.75" y="5.25" width="9" height="9" rx="1" stroke-width="1.33" fill="none"/></svg> </span>Copy</button></div><pre><code class="hljs language-sh">git branch --merged | grep -v \* | xargs</code></pre></div><ol start="4"> <li>Feed these arguments to the deletion command (passed in the second argument of <span class="inline-code">xargs</span>):</li> </ol> <div class="e2-code-block" data-language="sh"><div class="e2-code-header"><span class="e2-code-language">Shell</span><button class="e2-code-copy" type="button" aria-label="Copy code to clipboard" data-copy-text="Copy" data-copied-text="Copied!" data-failed-text="Failed"><span class="e2-svgi"><svg xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" viewBox="0 0 16 16"><mask id="cutout"><rect width="100%" height="100%" fill="white"/><rect x="1.75" y="5.25" width="9" height="9" stroke-width="1.33" rx="1" fill="black" stroke="black"/></mask><rect x="5.25" y="1.75" width="9" height="9" rx="1" stroke-width="1.33" fill="none" mask="url(#cutout)"/><rect x="1.75" y="5.25" width="9" height="9" rx="1" stroke-width="1.33" fill="none"/></svg> </span>Copy</button></div><pre><code class="hljs language-sh">git branch --merged | grep -v \* | xargs git branch -D</code></pre></div>