build IB pointers to existing objects in interface builder without iboutlet

Question

is there any function to init an UIButton with a button from Interface Builder without using IBOutlets?

i have 20 buttons in my view and i need to modify their image without declaring 20 pointers.

i think it would be something like:

UIButton *but=[[UIButton alloc] initWithButtonTag:20];

[but setImage:[UIImage imageNamed:@"myImage.png"]];

i tried googleing it but didnt find anything