November 5, 2018
2 min read
git fetch -p (--prune) makes your tracking branches equivalent to those on the remote repository. After that, git branch -r (--remote) will list your tracking branches, freshly pruned.
Tracking branches are local branches that have a direct relationship to a remote branch. Checking out a local branch from a remote branch automatically creates what is called a tracking branch.
The egrep & grep command uses git branch -vv to determine if a local branch has a corresponding tracking branch for origin. Finally, the git branch -d command will delete the branch. If the branch is not equivalent to the copy on master, the branch will not be deleted.
git fetch -p
git branch -r | awk '{print $1}' | egrep -v -f /dev/fd/0 <(git branch -vv | grep origin) | awk '{print $1}' | xargs git branch -dhttps://stackoverflow.com/questions/13064613/how-to-prune-local-tracking-branches-that-do-not-exist-on-remote-anymore https://stackoverflow.com/questions/4693588/git-what-is-a-tracking-branch