Declare @MyStr char(20)

Set @MyStr = '00004567890'

Select Convert(bigint,SubString(@MyStr, PatIndex('%[^0]%',@MyStr),Len(@MyStr) + 1 - PatIndex('%[^0]%',@MyStr)))

What this does is to find the first non-zero character in the field and then substring from there. ...

Great procedure but some work could be done to make it clearer what you are doing.  Also, where are the specs for PDF's?  That would be handy.

Scott.