Storing leading zeros of integers in MySQL database as INTEGER

Question

I need MySQL to store numbers in a integer field and maintain leading zeros. I cannot use the zerofill option as my current field is Bigint(16) and numbers can vary in amoun

Answer 1

Keep the numbers stored as integers.

Then use function LPAD() to show the numbers (left) padded with zeros:

SELECT LPAD( 14, 7, '0') AS padded;

| padded  |
-----------
| 0000014 |

If the number of zerofill characters is variable, add another column in the table with that (zerofill) length.