[Users] manipulate $from under avops module

[Brandon Price]

I am having some trouble with avpops and the from variable. I am  
doing something like

avp_db_load("$to","$disabled");

which produces a query like
select value,attribute,type from usr_preferences where  
username='+15183207486' AND attribute='50'
the problem is I need a query like select value,attribute,type from  
usr_preferences where username='15183207486' AND  
attribute='50' ,without the "+"
is there any way I can strip the 1st digit from the $from variable? I  
have already tried using strip(1);

As always any help greatly appreciated.