title: Cast from numeric to char with leading zeros in Informix
body: <p>I am having problems trying to do a cast on a SQL query in Informix. I have a table with a column called <code>ponbr</code> that I am querying on. Its data type is <code>CHAR(8)</code>.</p>
  
  <p>Here is my query that works fine and returns records</p>
  
  <pre><code>select * from xxx_shp where '02573569' = ponbr
  </code></pre>
  
  <p>However, if I type this query, it returns nothing:</p>
  
  <pre><code>select * from xxx_shp where to_char(02573569) = ponbr
  </code></pre>
  
  <p>This also returns nothing: </p>
  
  <pre><code>select * from xxx_shp where ponbr = CAST (02573569 AS char(8))
  </code></pre>
  
  <p>What am I doing wrong here? </p>