GitListing Branches

Listing Branches

Once you have more than two or three branches, the question “what branches exist?” comes up daily. git branch is the answer, with several useful flags for filtering and formatting. Knowing them turns branch management from a guessing game into something orderly.

List local branches

Bash
git branch
#   develop
# * main           ← * marks the current branch
#   feature-x
#   bugfix-42
List remote-tracking branches

Bash
git branch -r
#   origin/HEAD -> origin/main
#   origin/main
#   origin/develop
#   origin/feature-x
List ALL branches (local + remote)

Bash
git branch -a
#   develop
# * main
#   feature-x
#   remotes/origin/HEAD -> origin/main
#   remotes/origin/main
#   remotes/origin/develop
Verbose mode — last commit on each branch

Bash
git branch -v
#   develop  c204c1d Bump deps
# * main     1f9ab2c Add login form
#   feature-x d4b1e0c WIP search

# Even more info — also show tracking status
git branch -vv
# * main            1f9ab2c [origin/main] Add login form
#   feature-x        d4b1e0c [origin/feature-x: ahead 1] WIP search
Filtering branches

Show only merged or unmerged branches

Bash
# Branches whose tip is already in the current branch
git branch --merged
# Useful: branches you can safely delete

# Branches NOT yet merged into the current one
git branch --no-merged

# Compared to a different branch
git branch --merged main
git branch --no-merged main
Pattern matching

Bash
# Branches starting with 'feature/'
git branch --list 'feature/*'

# Branches starting with 'feature/' (remote too)
git branch -a --list '*feature/*'
Sort by date

Most recently committed first

Bash
git branch --sort=-committerdate
# * main
#   feature-x
#   bugfix-42
#   old-experiment

# By when they were created (oldest first)
git branch --sort=authordate

For a permanently nicer order, set this as a default:

Bash
git config --global branch.sort -committerdate
Custom formatting with for-each-ref

Power user: any column you want

Bash
git for-each-ref --sort=-committerdate refs/heads/ \
  --format='%(refname:short) %(committerdate:short) %(authorname)'

# main         2025-01-12 Alice
# feature-x    2025-01-10 Bob
# bugfix-42    2025-01-08 Alice
Just the current branch

Bash
git branch --show-current
# main

# Or the more general:
git rev-parse --abbrev-ref HEAD
# main
Count branches

Bash
git branch | wc -l        # local
git branch -r | wc -l     # remote
git branch -a | wc -l     # everything
Branches tracking a specific remote branch

Bash
git branch -vv | grep 'origin/main'
# Shows local branches that track origin/main
Reading the asterisk and brackets

  • * branch-name — the currently checked-out branch.

  • + branch-name — branch checked out in another worktree.

  • [origin/main] — this branch tracks origin/main.

  • [origin/main: ahead 2] — local has 2 commits the remote does not.

  • [origin/main: behind 3] — remote has 3 commits the local does not.

  • [origin/main: ahead 2, behind 3] — diverged.

  • [gone] — the tracked remote branch no longer exists; safe to delete with git fetch --prune first.

Pruning stale remote-tracking refs

Remove pointers to branches deleted on the remote

Bash
git fetch --prune
# or auto-prune on every fetch:
git config --global fetch.prune true
Aliases that pay off
Try:
git config --global alias.brs "branch -vv --sort=-committerdate"
Now git brs gives you a clean recently-used list with tracking info — a fantastic daily-driver view.
Tip
Run git branch --merged | grep -v "\\*" every Friday afternoon. Those are branches you can probably delete to keep things tidy.