git-emptybranch.sh

#!/bin/sh
#
#  Script by Wesley J. Landaker <wjl@icecavern.net>
#  posted to git@vger.kernel.org on 5 Feb 2010.
#
#  Besides the error checking, this just creates a new ref 
#  and clears the index so you can start from a clean slate. 
#  No actual files are deleted from the work-tree.

if [ $# -ne 1 ]; then
    2<&1
    echo "usage: git emptybranch <new_branch>"
    exit 1
fi

if ! git check-ref-format refs/heads/"$1"; then
    2<&1
    echo "fatal: '$1' is not a valid branch name."
    exit 1
fi

git symbolic-ref -m "git emptybranch $1" HEAD refs/heads/"$1"
git rm --cached -r -q --ignore-unmatch -- '*'