Regex rx = new Regex(@"^0+(\d+)$");
rx.Replace("0001234", @"$1"); // => "1234"
rx.Replace("0001234000", @"$1"); // => "1234000"
rx.Replace("000", @"$1"); // => "0" (TrimStart will convert this to "")
// usage
var outString = rx.Replace(inputString, @"$1");