TIL: Cleaning Up Merged Git Branches

Over time, Git repositories can fill up with old branches that are no longer needed. A simple way to keep things tidy is to remove branches that have already been merged.

This command lists all branches that are already merged, filters out the main branch, and then deletes the rest locally:

git branch --merged | grep -v main | xargs git branch -D

Here’s what each part of the command does:

• git branch --merged lists all local branches that have already been merged into the current branch.
• grep -v main filters out the main branch so it won’t be deleted.
• xargs git branch -D takes the remaining branch names and deletes them locally.

It’s a quick and effective way to clean your local repository and focus only on active work. Just make sure everything important is already merged before running it.