Disable IPv4: What exactly does 'ifconfig eth0 0' do?

I'm experimenting with Linux and networks. What I'm trying to do is disable IPv4 for remote connections. It shouldn't be that complicated but I didn't find much about this topic. However, there is one solution which seems to work.

I cannot remember where I got that from but the comand ifconfig eth0 0 seems to remove the IPv4 address from eth0, leaving the interface only with its IPv6 address. That it what I wanted to achive, but now I wonder how I did it. I don't know what this command actually does since I didn't find these parameters in the ifconfig manual.

Can someone point out to me, what this command does? I don't want to use it for the wrong reasons. Also, if there are alternative ideas on how to disable IPv4, I'd like to hear them.

Thanks in advance!

Solution 1:

Yes, the command ifconfig eth0 0 zeros (removes) the IP address assigned to interface eth0. From the manual of ifconfig, you can read:

ifconfig [-v] interface [aftype] options | address ...

However, the command I use to remove IP from an interface is:

ip addr del IP_add_ress/mask dev eth0