Easily delete local and remote references to multiple git branches

delete_stale_branches.sh

#!/bin/sh

function usage
{
    echo "usage: ./delete_stale_branches.sh [--help] [--branches [<branch_names>]]"
}

function delete_branch
{
    branch_name=$1
    git checkout "remotes/origin/$branch_name"
    git checkout -b "$branch_name"
    git checkout master
    git push origin ":$branch_name"
    git branch -D "$branch_name"
}

function main
{
    for branch_name in "$@"
    do
        echo "Deleting stale branch $branch_name..."
        delete_branch $branch_name
    done
}

case $1 in
    --help)
        usage
        exit 0 ;;
    --branches)
        shift
        main $@ ;;
esac