my $date = '07/04/2001';
$date = join '/', map { $_+0 } split /\//, $date;
print $date;

##</code><code>##

$date =~ s!^0+!!;   # trim leading zeroes
$date =~ s!/0+!/!g; # trim zeroes after a /

##</code><code>##

$date =~ s/\b0//g;