git branch --delete master

git version 2.28.0, released one week ago, includes a simple but nice new feature:

init: allow setting the default for the initial branch name via the config

What does this mean?

Changing new repositories

When creating a git repository using git init, git will create a default branch for you.¹ Traditionally, this branch is called “master”, so git creates this branch and you can begin staging and committing files.

Should you find this name distasteful, you can change the name of the branch at any time. The git invocation to do so is

git branch --move master whatever

As of this newest release, git can do this for you. To set the default branch name to main for all repos your user creates, you will want to edit the so-called global git configuration:

git config --global init.defaultBranch main

Any new repository you initialize will now use the default branch main.

Changing existing repositories

This setting only affects new repositories that you create in the future — but changing an existing repo is not difficult.

From the existing repo, rename the branch:

git branch --move master main

Push your new branch (assuming the remote repository is named “origin”):

git push origin main

Finally, delete the remote’s original branch²:

git push origin --delete master

In three steps you have renamed a git branch without making a big deal out of it, all while avoiding the wrath of internet reactionaries.