How can I delete archived log files in Oracle?

To delete Oracle archive logs, you can follow these steps:

1. First, make sure the database is in archive mode. You can confirm this by running the following query.
2. Retrieve the log mode from the V$DATABASE view.
3. To determine the earliest timestamp of archived logs to keep in the database, you can find it by running the following query.
4. Retrieve the NAME and FIRST_TIME columns from the V$ARCHIVED_LOG table and sort the results by the FIRST_TIME column.
5. Connect to the RMAN tool to perform the deletion using the Recovery Manager tool.
6. Connect to the RMAN repository using the specified target.
7. Run the following command to delete archived logs:
8. Delete all archived log files that were completed before ‘time point’.
9. In which, the ‘timestamp’ is the earliest point in time confirmed in step 2 as the archived logs that need to be retained.
10. Waiting for RMAN to complete the deletion of archived logs.

Before deleting archive logs, ensure that a backup of the archive logs has been completed to prevent data loss. Deleting archive logs may impact the database’s recovery capability.