Turning Off the Output Stream or Just a Return Value from a Templ ate

Dear All

Maybe this is an obvious newbie question but I cannot find an answer.

I just want to return a value from a template without outputting the return
value at all.

The code below works but outputs true when the result is true.

How can I either stop this or is there a better way to catch a return value?


	<xsl:call-template name="search">
		<xsl:with-param name="search_pattern"
select="substring-before($theMacroStrings, ';')"/>
	</xsl:call-template>

	<xsl:template name="search">		
		<xsl:param name="search_pattern"/>		
		<xsl:for-each select="//cmacro">			
			<xsl:choose>				
				<xsl:when test=".=$search_pattern">

					<xsl:variable
name="search_result">true</xsl:variable>

					<xsl:copy-of
select="$search_result"/>				
				</xsl:when>			
			</xsl:choose>		
		</xsl:for-each>	
	</xsl:template>


many thanks

kent