Removing leading zeros from a variable

How do I remove or add leading zeroa from a variable. To make variable 10 characters long when adding zeros.

have a look at the command "tr"...

hth,
DN2

$ printf "%05d\n" 5
00005

$ printf "%d\n" 00005
5

$ printf "%010d\n" 00005
0000000005

Nothing worked, I am using K Shell

Nothing worked means, did you get any error or It didn't display anything?

A awk one to remove leading 0's

$ echo "0000000231" | awk '{print $1 + 0}'
231

or:

 expr  "0000000231" + 0
231