A
leading zero is any
0 digit that comes before the first nonzero digit in a number string in
positional notation. For example,
James Bond's famous identifier, 007, has two leading zeros. When leading zeros occupy the most significant digits of an
integer, they could be left
blank or omitted for the same numeric value. Therefore, the usual
decimal notation of
integers does not use leading zeros except for the
zero itself, which would be denoted as an
empty string otherwise. However, in
decimal fractions strictly between -1 and 1, the leading zeros digits between the
decimal point and the first nonzero digit are necessary for conveying the magnitude of a number and cannot be omitted.