Deleting A Branch

When a branch is no longer needed (e.g., the work has been merged, or the experiment was abandoned), delete it with the -d flag:

git branch -d feature-login

Git refuses to delete a branch that has unmerged commits. This is a safety check; it prevents you from losing work by mistake.

If you really do want to throw away the branch and its commits, force the delete with -D:

git branch -D feature-login

You cannot delete the branch you are currently on. Switch away first, then delete:

git switch main
git branch -d feature-login

Deleting a branch removes the pointer, not the commits themselves. As long as another branch or tag still references those commits, they remain in the repo.