How do I delete a branch without an error message if the branch does not exist?

Question

I would like to include a command to delete a local Git branch in a script, and I don't want any error message to be shown if the branch does not exist. At the same time, I also don't want a status code indicating a failure from the Git command.

Given the following example:

git branch -D foo

If the branch exists, it is deleted, and the return status of the command is 0, indicating success. If I run the same script again, the branch is no longer there, therefore the command fails, prints

error: branch 'foo' not found.

and the return status of the Git command is >0, indicating an error.

Is there a way to silence the command, so that it does not care whether the branch was there in the first place? Ideally, it would not print an error message and it also would not indicate a failure through a non-zero return status.

I know that I can work around these things using some scripting magic, but I would prefer a simple solution, since I have to do the same thing on Windows (.bat) and for Unix/Linux/Mac (.sh).

Did I miss an option, or am I out of luck?

Answer 1

If the branch exists, it is deleted, and the return status .. is 0, ... Is there a way to silence the command, so that it does not care whether the branch was there ... it would not print an error message and it also would not indicate a failure through a non-zero return status.

The following examples will suppress all output, and indicate the success or failure via the exit code:

Linux   $ git branch -D <branch> &>/dev/null    
Windows $ git branch -D <branch> 1>nul 2>nul

If you intend to consciously ignore the exit code, simply don’t check it, and proceed to the next command in your script.

Or, If you must exit with a zero code then

Linux   $ git branch -D <branch> &>/dev/null || true  
Windows $ git branch -D <branch> 1>nul 2>nul || ver>nul