How to delete a branch in Git

Short answer

Use git branch -d <branch> for safe deletion or -D for force deletion of unmerged branches.

Steps

1. Delete a merged local branch:

git branch -d feature-old

2. Force delete an unmerged branch:

git branch -D feature-old

3. Delete a remote branch:

git push origin --delete feature-old

Tips

• Always switch to another branch before deleting the current one.
• Prune stale remote branches with git fetch --prune.
• Use git branch --merged to see branches that are safe to delete.

Common issues

• Deleting the wrong branch: use git reflog to recover lost commits.
• Remote deletion does not affect other developers' local copies.