PHP Error - Notice: Array to string conversion on imploding an array - php

Question

I'm trying to write a function that would take the $s parameter and split it into letters thus creating an array of the letters of $s.
$n is the letter counter, so it would loop up to 10 letters and return EricEricEr.
The first issue: I understand I'm creating an array inside an array, and since I would like to receive the string of the inner array, I would need to implode it twice.
The Second issue: I'm unable to print the 10 first letters, only the word 10 times (i.e. EricEricEricEric...10 times).
Expected Result: I would like the for loop i to go over the letters, and when reaching $n and print all the letters with no glue, just consecutively, receiving the result of this specific example function params as: EricEricEr.
function letterCounter($s, $n){
for ($i = 0; $i<=$n; $i++){
$split [] = str_split($s);
}
$imploded = implode($split);
return $imploded;
}
$result = letterCounter('Eric', 10);
echo '<pre>';
print_r($result);
echo '</pre>';

Answer 1

This will do but you can improve the code
function letterCounter($s, $n)
{
$split = str_split($s); //array of splitted $s into letters
$count=0;
$str = "";
while($count<$n){
foreach($split as $char){
if($count>=$n)
break;
$str.= $char;
$count++;
}
}
return $str;
}
$result = letterCounter('Eric', 10);
echo '<pre>';
print_r($result);
echo '</pre>';

Answer 2

Not sure if I got you right here, but PHP got everything you need:
$string = "Eric";
str_pad($string, 10, $string);
"EricEricEr"