types - What is the benefit of zerofill in MySQL?

Question

I just want to know what is the benefit/usage of defining ZEROFILL for INT DataType in MySQL?

`id` INT UNSIGNED ZEROFILL NOT NULL 

Answer 1

When you select a column with type ZEROFILL it pads the displayed value of the field with zeros up to the display width specified in the column definition. Values longer than the display width are not truncated. Note that usage of ZEROFILL also implies UNSIGNED.

Using ZEROFILL and a display width has no effect on how the data is stored. It affects only how it is displayed.

Here is some example SQL that demonstrates the use of ZEROFILL:

CREATE TABLE yourtable (x INT(8) ZEROFILL NOT NULL, y INT(8) NOT NULL);
INSERT INTO yourtable (x,y) VALUES
(1, 1),
(12, 12),
(123, 123),
(123456789, 123456789);
SELECT x, y FROM yourtable;

Result:

        x          y
 00000001          1
 00000012         12
 00000123        123
123456789  123456789