[php] How to remove all leading zeroes in a string

If I have a string

00020300504
00000234892839
000239074

how can I get rid of the leading zeroes so that I will only have this

20300504
234892839
239074

note that the number above was generated randomly.

This question is related to php string

The answer is


Ajay Kumar offers the simplest echo +$numString; I use these:

echo round($val = "0005");
echo $val = 0005;
    //both output 5
echo round($val = 00000648370000075845);
echo round($val = "00000648370000075845");
    //output 648370000075845, no need to care about the other zeroes in the number
    //like with regex or comparative functions. Works w/wo single/double quotes

Actually any math function will take the number from the "string" and treat it like so. It's much simpler than any regex or comparative functions. I saw that in php.net, don't remember where.


Assuming you want a run-on of three or more zeros to be removed and your example is one string:

    $test_str ="0002030050400000234892839000239074";
    $fixed_str = preg_replace('/000+/','',$test_str);

You can make the regex pattern fit what you need if my assumptions are off.

This help?


Regex was proposed already, but not correctly:

<?php
    $number = '00000004523423400023402340240';
    $withoutLeadingZeroes = preg_replace('/^0+/', '', $number)
    echo $withoutLeadingZeroes;
?>

output is then:

4523423400023402340240

Background on Regex: the ^ signals beginning of string and the + sign signals more or none of the preceding sign. Therefore, the regex ^0+ matches all zeroes at the beginning of a string.


Don't know why people are using so complex methods to achieve such a simple thing! And regex? Wow!

Here you go, the easiest and simplest way (as explained here: https://nabtron.com/kiss-code/ ):

$a = '000000000000001';
$a += 0;

echo $a; // will output 1

(string)((int)"00000234892839")

you can add "+" in your variable,

example :

$numString = "0000001123000";
echo +$numString;

Similar to another suggestion, except will not obliterate actual zero:

if (ltrim($str, '0') != '') {
    $str = ltrim($str, '0');
} else {
    $str = '0';
}

Or as was suggested (as of PHP 5.3), shorthand ternary operator can be used:

$str = ltrim($str, '0') ?: '0'; 

I don't think preg_replace is the answer.. old thread but just happen to looking for this today. ltrim and (int) casting is the winner.

<?php
 $numString = "0000001123000";
 $actualInt = "1123000";

 $fixed_str1 = preg_replace('/000+/','',$numString);
 $fixed_str2 = ltrim($numString, '0');
 $fixed_str3 = (int)$numString;

 echo $numString . " Original";
 echo "<br>"; 
 echo $fixed_str1 . " Fix1";
 echo "<br>"; 
 echo $fixed_str2 . " Fix2";
 echo "<br>";
 echo $fixed_str3 . " Fix3";
 echo "<br>";
 echo $actualInt . " Actual integer in string";

 //output

 0000001123000 Origina
 1123 Fix1
 1123000 Fix2
 1123000 Fix3
 1123000 Actual integer in tring

Im Fixed with this way.

its very simple. only pass a string its remove zero start of string.

function removeZeroString($str='')
{
    while(trim(substr($str,0,1)) === '0')
    {
        $str = ltrim($str,'0');
    }
    return $str;
}