def ddc_correct_short_keys(key: str):
    """Correct short ddc keys if they were not prefixed with zeros.

    Parameters
    ----------
    key: str
        a ddc key

    Returns
    -------
    str
        the corrected ddc key if correction was possible, otherwise the original input
    """
    if len(key) == 1:
        return "00" + key
    if len(key) == 2:
        return "0" + key
    return key