How to retain leading zeros of int variables?

Question

Below is a section of code which is part of a functional decryption and encryption program.

while checkvar < maxvar: # is set to < as maxvar is 1 to high for the index of var
    #output.append("%02d" % number)
    i =ord(var[checkvar]) - 64 # Gets postional value of i
    i = ("%02d" % i)
    if (checkvar + 1) < maxvar:
        j =ord(var[(checkvar + 1)]) - 64 # Gets postional value of i
        j = ("%02d" % j)
        i = str(i) + str(j) #'Adds' the string i and j to create a new i
    li.append(int(i))
    checkvar = checkvar + 2

print li

As you can see the two variables i and j are first treated as string to add a 0 in front of any single digit numbers (as string). These variables then are combined to make a four digit number (still as a string). Later in the program the number created are used in a pow() function, as ints remove any leading zeros.

My question: Is it possible to force python to keep the leading zero for ints? I have and continued to search online.

Edit

To help people I have included the encryption part of the program. This is where the problem lies. The variables created in the above code are passed through a pow() function. As this can't handle strings I have to convert the variables to ints where the leading zero is lost.

#a = li[]
b=int(17)#pulic = e
c=int(2773)#=n

lenli=int(len(li))
enchecker = int(0)

#encrpted list
enlist = []

while enchecker < lenli:
    en = pow(li[enchecker],b,c)#encrpyt the message can only handle int
    enlist.append(int(en))
    enchecker = enchecker + 1

print enlist

Answer 1

The concept of leading zeros is a display concept, not a numerical one. You can put an infinite number of leading zeros on a number without changing its value. Since it's not a numeric concept, it's not stored with the number.

You have to decide how many zeros you want when you convert the number to a string. You could keep that number separately if you want.