Try "reading from a file":

use strict;
use warnings;
chomp(my $x = <DATA>);
chomp(my $y = <DATA>);
#$x += 0;
if($x == $y)    {
    print $x . " and " . $y . " are equal\n";
}
else    {
    print $x . " and " . $y . " aren't equal\n";
}
__DATA__
0010
10
[download]

OUTPUT: 0010 and 10 are equal

As numbers, they are equal. As strings, they are not! Note that your idea of adding zero would 'fix' the string.