How to delete a phantom Git reference?

Question

I have a Git branch that should have been deleted, but it is still visible for most git commands (e.g. git show phantom).

git show-ref phantom doesn't find the reference

git log --decorate --max-count=1 phantom finds the reference, but doesn't show any branches or tags on the commit.

git fsck list a bunch of dangling objects, but nothing else.

possible duplicate of [How to fix stale git branch -r (delete phantom git branches)?](http://stackoverflow.com/questions/16786786/how-to-fix-stale-git-branch-r-delete-phantom-git-branches) — Joe, May 28 '14 at 12:10
@Joe that question was about remote-tracking branches, my branch is (was) local. — Dan Berindei, May 28 '14 at 12:34

score 0 · Accepted Answer · answered May 28 '14 at 12:32

0

I managed to delete the reference with

git update-ref -d phantom

I was stumped by the fact that it didn't show up either as a branch or as a tag, but I guess git-update-ref doesn't care about such trifles.

answered May 28 '14 at 12:32

Dan Berindei

1 Answers1