Question

I have a string variable:

str1 = '0000120000210000'

I want to convert the string into an integer without losing the first 4 zero characters. In other words, I want the integer variable to also store the first 4 zero digits as part of the integer.

I tried the int() function, but I’m not able to retain the first four digits.

Answer 1

You can use two integers, one to store the width of the number, and the other to store the number itself:

kw = len(s)
k = int(s)

To put the number back together in a string, use format:

print '{:0{width}}'.format(k, width=kw) # prints 0000120000210000

But, in general, you should not store identifiers (such as credit card numbers, student IDs, etc.) as integers, even if they appear to be. Numbers in these contexts should only be used if you need to do arithmetic, and you don’t usually do arithmetic with identifiers.