Git Branch Management - Viewing Branches

Viewing Branches

$ git branch
  iss53
* master  # The asterisk * indicates the current branch
  testing

The git branch command does more than just create and delete branches. When run without arguments, it lists all current branches.

Viewing the Last Commit on Each Branch

$ git branch -v
  iss53   93b412c fix javascript issue
* master  7a98805 Merge branch 'iss53'
  testing 782fd34 test

Viewing Merged / Unmerged Branches

The --merged and --no-merged options let you see which branches have or have not been merged into the current branch.

$ git branch --merged # List merged branches
  iss53
* master

Branches in this list without the * prefix can generally be deleted with git branch -d;

$ git branch --no-merged # List unmerged branches
  testing

The above shows the unmerged branch. Attempting to delete it with git branch -d will fail:

$ git branch -d testing
error: The branch 'testing' is not fully merged.
If you are sure you want to delete it, run 'git branch -D testing'.

Force delete an unmerged branch:

$ git branch -D testing

Viewing Merged / Unmerged Branches for a Specific Branch

The --merged and --no-merged options described above will, if no commit or branch name is given as an argument, list branches that have or have not been merged into the current branch.

You can always provide an additional argument to check the merge status of other branches without checking them out. For example, which branches have not been merged into the testing branch?

$ git branch --no-merged testing
  topicA
  featureB