Listing, Renaming, and Deleting Branches
Git provides commands for managing branch references. Local branches can be listed with git branch, renamed with git branch -m, and deleted with git branch -d. Remote branches can be removed using git push origin --delete branch-name.
Deleting a branch does not automatically delete commits if those commits are still reachable through another reference.
Branch Maintenance
git branch
git branch -a
git branch -m old-name new-name
git branch -d feature/login
git push origin --delete feature/login💡 These commands inspect local and remote-tracking branches, rename a local branch, delete a merged local branch, and remove a branch from the remote.
Key Takeaways
- Use
-dfor safe deletion of merged branches. - Use
-Donly when intentionally forcing deletion. - Remote branch deletion is a push operation.
Knowledge Check
Which command safely deletes a merged local branch?