title: How to avoid: read.table truncates numeric values beginning with 0
body: <p>I want to import a table (<code>.txt</code> file) in R with <code>read.table()</code>. One column in my table is an ID with nine numerals - some ids begin with a 0, other with 1 or 2.</p>
  
  <p>R truncates the first 0 (012345678 becomes 12345678) which leads to problems when using this ID to merge another table.</p>
  
  <p>Can someone give me a hint how to solve the problem?</p>