title: Oracle - Why does the leading zero of a number disappear when converting it TO_CHAR
body: <p>In Oracle, when converting a number with a leading zero to a character, <strong>why</strong> does the leading number disappear?  Is this logic Oracle specific, or specific to SQL?</p>
  
  <p>Example:</p>
  
  <pre><code>SELECT TO_CHAR(0.56) FROM DUAL;
  /* Result = .56 */
  </code></pre>