Git: Deleting old local branches

Just looking at old local branches. They tend to proliferate, especially if you have a release cadence.

To list the local branches (the default), or list the branches according to a pattern, see the two examples directly below.

git branch
git branch --list "V2022*"

Small explanation of the output of the command:

• existing branches are listed
• the current branch will be highlighted in green and marked with an asterisk
• any branches checked out in linked worktrees will be highlighted in cyan and marked with a plus sign

I'm usually only interested in local branches, but "-r" shows remote-tracking branches and "-a" shows both remote and local branches, if you're interested.

Removing branches

git branch -D `git branch --list "V2022*"`

Bear in mind that branches that are used by a worktree cannot be deleted. Remove the worktree first.

Actually, I really like that behaviour.

Checking old branches

Apparently you can sort the list of branches based on last comitterdate.

git branch --sort=-committerdate # DESC

In the example above, you'll see branches that have been committed to recently at the top.

Finding a commit

This is nice, you can find which branches contain a certain commit quickly.

git branch --list --contains 089aafb331a08d19ed805fff6fea3846776980a0

Unfortunately, we're currently using git as a local repo, and svn remote, so there's a disconnect between commit hashes.

References

Git - git branch documentation

https://git-scm.com/docs/git-branch

StackOverflow - Can you delete multiple branches in one command with Git?

https://stackoverflow.com/questions/3670355/can-you-delete-multiple-branches-in-one-command-with-git

Git Branches

Just a little something for me to remember how to create branches and how to switch over to them.

There are plenty of resources available explaining how to do this, so I just thought I'd write some references down here.

$ git branch testing

creates a new branch called testing. Notice that this does not automatically make your new branch the current HEAD.

$ git log --oneline --decorate

seeing the branches in your log (as well as tags and the origins. Nice.)

54718edb (HEAD -> master, tag: v2.0.0, origin/master, origin/HEAD, v2.0.1) /* notes here. */
4c8c3bb9 /* moved the entire karchanangular into karchanpersonal. It compiles into the webapp directory. */
bb4bb432 /* upgrade from angular 4 to angular 7 */
12b528ed /* removed old directories that are no longer in use. Clean up. */
ead93fc3 /* changed images table, now has an autogenerated ID, plus an index on the pair owner and url. */

$ git checkout testing

switching to a branch

$ git checkout -b testing

shorthand for both creating a new branch called testing and checking it out immediately.

$ git checkout master ; git merge testing

merges the changes in the testing branch over into the master.

$ git checkout testing ; git merge master

merge the changes from your master into your testing branch.

$ git branch -d testing

delete a branch

$ git status

also shows you what branch you are on.

$ git show-branch

shows you all existing branches, and the commit that goes with that point in which it was branched.

References

GitBook - Git Branching

https://git-scm.com/book/en/v2/Git-Branching-Branches-in-a-Nutshell

Git - Branch Manpage

https://git-scm.com/docs/git-branch

TutorialsPoint - Git Managing Branches

https://www.tutorialspoint.com/git/git_managing_branches.htm