How to NOT display my integer?

[Rheanna]

I'm very new to php. With help I was able to make this code work:

<?php
 //get_additional is a custom funcion
ob_start();
echo get_additional($tcgname,'Trades');
echo nl2br("\n");
echo '<div class="tboxout" style="background: url('.$tcgimg.')">';
echo '<div class="tboxin">';
$buffered = ob_get_clean();
echo $buffered;
$times = $buffered;
$imgurl = 'myimage.png';

for($i=0;$i<$times;$i++){
    echo '<img src="'.$imgurl.'" />';
}
echo '</div>';
echo '</div>';
?>

It pulls an image and displays it x amount of times depending on the integer that this part of the code outputs:

echo get_additional($tcgname,'Trades');

My question is, how would I go about gathering that integer without actually displaying the information? I don't see how I would use a variable in this situation...

[scootstah]

$number = get_additional($tcgname,'Trades');

[Rheanna]

That removes all instances of the images as well as the number though...

[scootstah]

Can you post the function definition?

[hansford]

I've already addressed this in your last post. http://forums.phpfreaks.com/topic/298419-what-am-i-doing-wrong/