code: def remove_leading_zeros(num: str) -> str:
      
      if not num:
          return num
      if num.startswith('M'):
          ret = 'M' + num[1:].lstrip('0')
      elif num.startswith('-'):
          ret = '-' + num[1:].lstrip('0')
      else:
          ret = num.lstrip('0')
      return '0' if ret in ('', 'M', '-') else ret
docs: Strips zeros while handling -, M, and empty strings