Get list of final branches (which are final tips)

Question

How can i get a list of branches which are only final branches (which are not parents of any other commits) - other words branches which are tips of commit tree (final nodes). I expected some option like --final or --tips in git branch command but there only --merged, --no-merged and --contains options.

Answer 1

There are some useful answers already but not giving what is asked for: a list or branches (to me that means branch names, not commit IDs).

Getting list of tip branch names

{
        echo "** Below is list of tip branches a.k.a. final nodes."
        echo "** These aren't reachable from any other branches."
        echo "** Removing them is potentially DANGEROUS: it would make some commit unreachable."
        TIPS=$( git rev-list --branches --children | grep -v ' ' | sort )
        { while read branchname commitid message
                do grep $commitid < <(echo $TIPS) -q && echo $branchname
                done
        } < <(git branch -v --no-abbrev | sed 's/\*//' )
        echo "** end of list"
}

Result looks like this:

** Below is list of tip branches a.k.a. final nodes.
** These aren't reachable from any other branches.
** Removing them is potentially DANGEROUS: it would make some commit unreachable.
feature-workingonit
dev
** end of list

Getting list of non-tip branch names

When tidying things up, you may want to see the non-tip branches. Here's a way to get a list of them. The only change is && becoming ||.

{
        echo "** Below is list of non-tip branches a.k.a. inner nodes."
        echo "** These are reachable from other branches."
        echo "** If you remove them, all commits would stay reachable, but be careful anyway."
        TIPS=$( git rev-list --branches --children | grep -v ' ' | sort )
        { while read branchname commitid message
                do grep $commitid < <(echo $TIPS) -q || echo $branchname
                done
        } < <(git branch -v --no-abbrev | sed 's/\*//' )
        echo "** end of list"
}

Result looks like this:

** Below is list of non-tip branches a.k.a. inner nodes.
** These are reachable from other branches.
** If you remove them, all commits would stay reachable, but be careful anyway.
feature-alreadymerged
master
** end of list

Getting list of non-tip branch names with commit ids and message

You can decorate as you wish, for example by changing:

echo $branchname

into

echo -e "$branchname\t$commitid\t$message"

Result then looks like this:

** Below is list of non-tip branches a.k.a. inner nodes.
** These are reachable from other branches.
** If you remove them, all commits would stay reachable, but be careful anyway.
feature-alreadymerged   426ac5186841876163970afdcc5774d46641abc4    Cool feature foo, ref task #1234
master  39148238924687239872eea425c0e837fafdcfd9    Some commit
** end of list

You can then review those branches in your favorite tool to see if it makes sense to remove them.