How to remove unused git branches

Question

How can one remove unused git bracnhes from Tortoise-Git? These branches have been removed both locally and remotely, i'd like to not see them anymore when using this dropdown

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I think this has been asked here: https://stackoverflow.com/questions/19928808/deleted-remote-branches-still-listed-in-tortoisegit and that answer is pretty good. — joe_flash, Feb 01 '18 at 17:23

score 20 · Answer 1 · answered Apr 24 '17 at 18:51

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As of TortoiseGit 2.4.0.2 there is a way to let it execute git remote prune origin. In the Sync window you can select "Clean up stale remote branches" which then will remove all already removed remote branches from your local cache.

I don't know if this already exists in previous versions, because I normally use the command line ^^

answered Apr 24 '17 at 18:51

Neithan

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perfect! this is the option on the tortoisegit. no command line required. – polras Sep 02 '17 at 19:46
Talking about tortoisegit this is the perfect answer! – pergy Jan 23 '18 at 12:37
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I almost exclusively use the git log view of TortoiseGit, as I can do everything I need to and see the entire state of the repo from this one view. From the fetch dialog there is a "Prune" checkbox as well that if checked appears to do the exact same thing. This answer led me to discover this. – Barak Gall Jan 28 '19 at 21:23
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BTW it's in the "Pull" pull-down menu. – Romulus Urakagi Ts'ai Dec 09 '21 at 02:10

score 8 · Accepted Answer · answered Jan 04 '12 at 22:41

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You need to run git remote prune origin. This will get rid of remote tracking branches which no longer represent a branch on the remote.

answered Jan 04 '12 at 22:41

Adam Dymitruk

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Does not remove it from Tortoise-Git. Is there anything specific i need to do for this application? – James Raitsev Jan 04 '12 at 23:33
when you run `git branch -a` do you see those branches (with or without origin)? – Adam Dymitruk Jan 05 '12 at 00:07
Adam - both locally and remotely i see only branches i need to see. Noise that shows up on top is not present – James Raitsev Jan 05 '12 at 14:44
Are you looking at a different repository possibly? What does .git/refs contain? – Adam Dymitruk Jan 06 '12 at 05:19

score 0 · Answer 3 · answered Dec 06 '16 at 13:43

You can do 'view log' and then scroll down to where you see the branch marker, right-click and ask to delete it. Typically you will see it twice as foo and origin/foo and you may want to delete both.

I have not found a way to do the equivalent of git remote prune origin from the TortoiseGit GUI.

score 0 · Answer 4 · answered Jan 05 '12 at 07:17

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Maybe you just pruned/removed the branches and the cache is not up-to-date. You could kill the tgitcache.exe process to reset the cache.

answered Jan 05 '12 at 07:17

Loïc d'Anterroches

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Killing (and later restarting) this process does not reset cached entries – James Raitsev Jan 05 '12 at 14:42

How to remove unused git branches

4 Answers4