Make use of the zfill() helper method to left-pad any string, integer or float with zeros; it's valid for both Python 2.x and Python 3.x.

It important to note that Python 2 is no longer supported.

Sample usage:

print(str(1).zfill(3))
# Expected output: 001

Description:

When applied to a value, zfill() returns a value left-padded with zeros when the length of the initial string value less than that of the applied width value, otherwise, the initial string value as is.

Syntax:

str(string).zfill(width)
# Where string represents a string, an integer or a float, and
# width, the desired length to left-pad.

zfill is a method of strings, not integers:

x = 12345
print(str(x).zfill(10))

As maybe a alternative more portable [1] and efficient [2], actually you can just use str.ljust.

In [2]: '190'.ljust(8, '0')
Out[2]: '19000000'

In [3]: str.ljust?
Docstring:
S.ljust(width[, fillchar]) -> str

Return S left-justified in a Unicode string of length width. Padding is
done using the specified fill character (default is a space).
Type:      method_descriptor

[1] format is not present on old python versions. format specifier was added since Python 3.0 (see PEP 3101) and Python 2.6.

[2] reverse twice is an expensive operation.