Executive Summary

git push -d <remote_name> <branchname>
git branch -d <branchname>

Note: In most cases, <remote_name> will be origin.

Delete Local Branch

To delete the local branch use one of the following:

git branch -d <branch_name>
git branch -D <branch_name>

• The -d option is an alias for --delete, which only deletes the branch if it has already been fully merged in its upstream branch.
• The -D option is an alias for --delete --force, which deletes the branch "irrespective of its merged status." [Source: man git-branch]
• As of Git v2.3, git branch -d (delete) learned to honor the -f (force) flag.
• You will receive an error if you try to delete the currently selected branch.

Delete Remote Branch

As of Git v1.7.0, you can delete a remote branch using

$ git push <remote_name> --delete <branch_name>

which might be easier to remember than

$ git push <remote_name> :<branch_name>

which was added in Git v1.5.0 "to delete a remote branch or a tag."

Starting with Git v2.8.0, you can also use git push with the -d option as an alias for --delete. Therefore, the version of Git you have installed will dictate whether you need to use the easier or harder syntax.

Delete Remote Branch [Original Answer from 5-Jan-2010]

From Chapter 3 of Pro Git by Scott Chacon:

Deleting Remote Branches

Suppose you’re done with a remote branch — say, you and your collaborators are finished with a feature and have merged it into your remote’s main branch (or whatever branch your stable code-line is in). You can delete a remote branch using the rather obtuse syntax git push [remotename] :[branch]. If you want to delete your server-fix branch from the server, you run the following:

$ git push origin :serverfix
To git@github.com:schacon/simplegit.git
 - [deleted]         serverfix

Boom. No more branches on your server. You may want to dog-ear this page, because you’ll need that command, and you’ll likely forget the syntax. A way to remember this command is by recalling the git push [remotename] [localbranch]:[remotebranch] syntax that we went over a bit earlier. If you leave off the [localbranch] portion, then you’re basically saying, “Take nothing on my side and make it be [remotebranch].”

I issued git push origin: bugfix and it worked beautifully. Scott Chacon was right—I will want to dog ear that page (or virtually dog ear by answering this on Stack Overflow).

Then you should execute this on other machines

# Fetch changes from all remotes and locally delete 
# remote deleted branches/tags etc
# --prune will do the job :-;
git fetch --all --prune

to propagate changes.

In addition to the other answers, I often use the git_remote_branch tool. It's an extra install, but it gets you a convenient way to interact with remote branches. In this case, to delete:

grb delete branch

I find that I also use the publish and track commands quite often.

Many of the other answers will lead to errors/warnings. This approach is relatively fool proof although you may still need git branch -D branch_to_delete if it's not fully merged into some_other_branch, for example.

git checkout some_other_branch
git push origin :branch_to_delete
git branch -d branch_to_delete

Remote pruning isn't needed if you deleted the remote branch. It's only used to get the most up-to-date remotes available on a repository you're tracking. I've observed git fetch will add remotes, not remove them. Here's an example of when git remote prune origin will actually do something:

User A does the steps above. User B would run the following commands to see the most up-to-date remote branches:

git fetch
git remote prune origin
git branch -r

According to the latest document using a terminal we can delete in the following way.

Delete in local:

git branch -D usermanagement

Delete in remote location:

git push --delete origin usermanagement

Here is a mashup of all the other answers. It requires Ruby 1.9.3+ and is tested only on OS X.

Call this file git-remove, make it executable, and put it in your path. Then use, for example, git remove temp.

#!/usr/bin/env ruby
require 'io/console'

if __FILE__ == $0
      branch_name = ARGV[0] if (ARGV[0])
      print "Press Y to force delete local and remote branch #{branch_name}..."
    response = STDIN.getch
    if ['Y', 'y', 'yes'].include?(response)
      puts "\nContinuing."
      `git branch -D #{branch_name}`
      `git branch -D -r origin/#{branch_name}`
      `git push origin --delete #{branch_name}`
    else
      puts "\nQuitting."
    end
end

I created the following convenient function in my .bash_aliases file:

git-delete-branch() 
{ 
    if [[ -n $1 ]]; then
        git checkout master > /dev/null;
        branch_name="$1";
        echo "Deleting local $branch_name branch...";
        git branch -D "$branch_name";
        echo "Deleting remote $branch_name branch...";
        git push origin --delete "$branch_name";
        git remote prune origin;
        echo "Your current branches are:";
        git branch -a;
    else
        echo "Usage: git-delete-branch <branch_name>";
    fi
}

The most flexible way is to use a custom Git command. For example, create the following Python script somewhere in your $PATH under the name git-rmbranch and make it executable:

#!/usr/bin/env python3

import argparse
import subprocess
import sys

def rmbranch(branch_name, remote, force):
    try:
        print(subprocess.run(['git', 'branch', '-D' if force else '-d', branch_name],
                             capture_output=True, check=True, encoding='utf-8').stdout, end='')
    except subprocess.CalledProcessError as exc:
        print(exc.stderr.replace(f'git branch -D {branch_name}', f'git rmbranch -f {branch_name}'), end='')
        return exc.returncode

    return subprocess.run(['git', 'push', remote, '--delete', branch_name]).returncode    

if __name__ == '__main__':
    parser = argparse.ArgumentParser(description='Delete a Git branch locally and remotely.')
    parser.add_argument('-r', '--remote', default='origin', help="The remote name (defaults to 'origin')")
    parser.add_argument('-f', '--force', action='store_true', help='Force deletion of not fully merged branches')
    parser.add_argument('branch_name', help='The branch name')
    args = parser.parse_args()

    sys.exit(rmbranch(args.branch_name, args.remote, args.force))

Then git rmbranch -h will show you usage information:

usage: git-rmbranch [-h] [-r REMOTE] [-f] branch_name

Delete a Git branch locally and remotely.

positional arguments:
  branch_name           The branch name

optional arguments:
  -h, --help            show this help message and exit
  -r REMOTE, --remote REMOTE
                        The remote name (defaults to 'origin')
  -f, --force           Force deletion of not fully merged branches

Note that git push origin --delete <branch_name> also removes the local remote-tracking branch (origin/<branch_name> by default), so no need to care about that.

P.S. You can find the latest version of this Git command here. Comments and suggestions are welcome.

Both CoolAJ86's and apenwarr's answers are very similar. I went back and forth between the two trying to understand the better approach to support a submodule replacement. Below is a combination of them.

First navigate Git Bash to the root of the Git repository to be split. In my example here that is ~/Documents/OriginalRepo (master)

# Move the folder at prefix to a new branch
git subtree split --prefix=SubFolderName/FolderToBeNewRepo --branch=to-be-new-repo

# Create a new repository out of the newly made branch
mkdir ~/Documents/NewRepo
pushd ~/Documents/NewRepo
git init
git pull ~/Documents/OriginalRepo to-be-new-repo

# Upload the new repository to a place that should be referenced for submodules
git remote add origin git@github.com:myUsername/newRepo.git
git push -u origin master
popd

# Replace the folder with a submodule
git rm -rf ./SubFolderName/FolderToBeNewRepo
git submodule add git@github.com:myUsername/newRepo.git SubFolderName/FolderToBeNewRepo
git branch --delete --force to-be-new-repo

Below is a copy of above with the customize-able names replaced and using HTTPS instead. The root folder is now ~/Documents/_Shawn/UnityProjects/SoProject (master)

# Move the folder at prefix to a new branch
git subtree split --prefix=Assets/SoArchitecture --branch=so-package

# Create a new repository out of the newly made branch
mkdir ~/Documents/_Shawn/UnityProjects/SoArchitecture
pushd ~/Documents/_Shawn/UnityProjects/SoArchitecture
git init
git pull ~/Documents/_Shawn/UnityProjects/SoProject so-package

# Upload the new repository to a place that should be referenced for submodules
git remote add origin https://github.com/Feddas/SoArchitecture.git
git push -u origin master
popd

# Replace the folder with a submodule
git rm -rf ./Assets/SoArchitecture
git submodule add https://github.com/Feddas/SoArchitecture.git
git branch --delete --force so-package

The first few methods did not work for me.

Let’s say you have the following branch and remote branch,

Local : Test_Branch
Remote: remotes/origin/feature/Test_FE

Set the upstream correctly for your local branch to track the remote branch you want to delete.

git branch --set-upstream-to=remotes/origin/feature/Test_FE Test_Branch

Then to delete the remote branch execute this

git push origin --delete Test_Branch

Then to delete the local branch execute following command

git branch -D Test_Branch

That's it.

Here you can delete remote branches corresponding to a glob or any branch name:

git branch -r --list "origin/*" | xargs git branch -r -D

You can use any of the following methods to delete a Local or Remote git branch:

Ways to Delete a Local Git Branch

In order to delete a local Git branch, you need to provide the --delete or -d flag to the git branch command (the latter is simply an alias to --delete).

-d --delete: Delete a branch. The branch must be fully merged in its upstream branch, or in HEAD if no upstream was set with --track or --set-upstream-to.

Example 1: (using --delete)

git branch --delete your_local_branch_name

Example 2: (using -d)

git branch -d your_local_branch_name

Alternatively, you can also use the -D flag which is a shortcut for --delete --force. In other words with the -D flag, the specified branch will be deleted regardless of its merged status.

Example 3: (using -D)

git branch -D your_local_branch_name

Ways to Delete a Remote Git Branch

Now if you want to get rid of a remote branch that resides on the remote host (server), you need to perform a git push.

Prior to Git v1.7.0, you could delete a remote branch using the syntax git push [remotename] :[branch]. For example,

git push origin :your_branch_name

After deleting the remote branch, you should always also delete the local branch as well like this:

git branch -d your_branch_name     

Important Notes: To ensure that all machines are now in-sync and the branch that has already been deleted from the remote host is not still visible to them, you need to run:

git fetch --all --prune

Also, you can find more details about the commands in the help pages of the git branch:

git branch --help