Re: [PATCH v18 7/7] branch: add --dry-run for --delete-merged

[Phillip Wood <phillip.wood123@gmail.com>]

Hi Harald

On 24/06/2026 22:55, Harald Nordgren via GitGitGadget wrote:
> From: Harald Nordgren <haraldnordgren@gmail.com>
> 
> With --dry-run, --delete-merged prints the local branches it would
> delete, one "Would delete branch <name>" line each, and exits
> without touching any ref. The same filtering applies, so the output
> is exactly the set that the real run would delete.

The same filtering as what? I think something like

"git branch --dry-run --delete-merged ..." prints one line per ref that 
would be deleted without modifing any refs.

would be sufficient
> --dry-run is only meaningful together with --delete-merged and is
> rejected otherwise.

Good
> @@ -346,13 +348,20 @@ static int delete_branches(int argc, const char **argv, int kinds,
>   		free(target);
>   	}
>   
> -	if (refs_delete_refs(get_main_ref_store(the_repository), NULL, &refs_to_delete, REF_NO_DEREF))
> +	if (!dry_run &&
> +	    refs_delete_refs(get_main_ref_store(the_repository), NULL, &refs_to_delete, REF_NO_DEREF))
>   		ret = 1;
>   
>   	for_each_string_list_item(item, &refs_to_delete) {
>   		char *describe_ref = item->util;
>   		char *name = item->string;
> -		if (!refs_ref_exists(get_main_ref_store(the_repository), name)) {
> +		if (dry_run) {
> +			if (!quiet)

This matches what we do without '--dry-run' but what use is '--dry-run 
--quiet' if it does not print anything?

> +				printf(remote_branch
> +					? _("Would delete remote-tracking branch %s (was %s).\n")
> +					: _("Would delete branch %s (was %s).\n"),
> +					name + branch_name_pos, describe_ref);
> +		} else if (!refs_ref_exists(get_main_ref_store(the_repository), name)) {
> diff --git a/t/t3200-branch.sh b/t/t3200-branch.sh
> index b7595610d9..cddcde341d 100755
> --- a/t/t3200-branch.sh
> +++ b/t/t3200-branch.sh
> @@ -1892,8 +1892,12 @@ test_expect_success '--delete-merged deletes merged branches and spares the rest
>   	) &&
>   	sha=$(git -C repo rev-parse --short merged) &&
>   
> -	git -C repo branch --delete-merged origin/next >actual 2>&1 &&
> +	git -C repo branch --dry-run --delete-merged origin/next >actual 2>&1 &&
> +	echo "Would delete branch merged (was $sha)." >expect &&
> +	test_cmp expect actual &&
> +	git -C repo rev-parse --verify refs/heads/merged &&
>   
> +	git -C repo branch --delete-merged origin/next >actual 2>&1 &&

I was wondering why the diff shows the line above being deleted and then 
added, it is because previously there was a blank line after it. The 
test for --dry-run looks good.
>   	echo "Deleted branch merged (was $sha)." >expect &&
>   	test_cmp expect actual &&
>   	git -C repo for-each-ref --format="%(refname:short)" refs/heads/ >actual &&
> @@ -2050,4 +2054,9 @@ test_expect_success "branch -d still deletes a deleteMerged=false branch" '
>   	test_must_fail git -C repo rev-parse --verify refs/heads/kept
>   '
>   
> +test_expect_success '--dry-run without --delete-merged is rejected' '
> +	test_must_fail git -C forked branch --dry-run 2>err &&
> +	test_grep "requires --delete-merged" err

Nice

Thanks

Phillip