When a variable is converted to a string, the number is simply expressed as a string. However, leading 0s are stripped from the number when it is first assigned to a variable.
Note: Comparisons of numbers expressed as strings may yield some results that are not obvious.
"5" lt "06" returns false as '0' is alphabetically before '5'
"-2" lt "0" returns true but
"-2" lt "-0" returns false
Example
a = 06; // a contains the number 6
When the variable a is converted to a string, it is interpreted as "6", not "06"