Text Search zero padding

I am using text search across multiple columns. Two of the columns
have values that have zero padding - sort of. The values look like
R0001234 (1 char followed by 7 digits, zero padded). Users are
accustom to searching with and without the zero padding (entering
R0001234 or R1234 should return identical results). This is easy to
accommodate when parsing user input for a single column, but text
searching across multiple columns it is harder determine if a
char/digit group should be padded.

So far my best idea is to create a tsvector column containing both
padded and non-padded versions of the value. i.e. put both R1234 and
R0001234 into the tsvector column. This seems pretty brute force, and
I am pretty new to text search, so I'd welcome any suggestions.

Thanks,
Rich

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Richard Greenwood
richard(dot)greenwood(at)gmail(dot)com
www.greenwoodmap.com