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This version of GitHub Enterprise was discontinued on 2022-10-12. No patch releases will be made, even for critical security issues. For better performance, improved security, and new features, upgrade to the latest version of GitHub Enterprise. For help with the upgrade, contact GitHub Enterprise support.

Deleting and restoring branches in a pull request

If you have write access in a repository, you can delete branches that are associated with closed or merged pull requests. You cannot delete branches that are associated with open pull requests.

Deleting a branch used for a pull request

You can delete a branch that is associated with a pull request if the pull request has been merged or closed and there are no other open pull requests referencing the branch. For information on closing branches that are not associated with pull requests, see "Creating and deleting branches within your repository."

  1. On your GitHub Enterprise Server instance, navigate to the main page of the repository.

  2. Under your repository name, click Pull requests.

    Pull request tab selection

  3. Click Closed to see a list of closed pull requests. Closed tab

  4. In the list of pull requests, click the pull request that's associated with the branch that you want to delete.

  5. Near the bottom of the pull request, click Delete branch. Delete branch button

    This button isn't displayed if there's currently an open pull request for this branch.

Restoring a deleted branch

You can restore the head branch of a closed pull request.

  1. On your GitHub Enterprise Server instance, navigate to the main page of the repository.

  2. Under your repository name, click Pull requests.

    Pull request tab selection

  3. Click Closed to see a list of closed pull requests. Closed tab

  4. In the list of pull requests, click the pull request that's associated with the branch that you want to restore.

  5. Near the bottom of the pull request, click Restore branch. Restore deleted branch button

Further reading