Returning reference and manipulating specific variable in PHP multidimensional array

I'm trying to return a reference from a specific position in a multidimensional global array and then manipulate it ... it's a deep nested array.

I'm trying to avoid having to iterate the array in every function that needs to manipulate a specific part.

I've tried all matter of this:

$foo = &get('bar');
$foo['something'] = 'for nothing';
 
var_dump($array); // unaffected
function &get($search) {
    global $array;
    foreach(...) {
        foreach(...) {
            foreach(... as $key => &val) {
               if($val === $search) return &val;
            }
        }
    }
}

This may not even be possible in PHP, but hoping I'm wrong and just missing something obvious.

Also, not married to a multidimensional array if there is an easier way to store and manipulate complex objects, it just needs to be as fast as possible.

Thanks for any advice!

I've fixed the syntax errors.

You need to use references for the iteration variables in all the foreach loops.

You don't need to use & when you're returning $val, just return $val;.

To update, you should just assign directly to $foo, since it doesn't contain an array.

<?php
$array = [[["foo", "bar"]]];
$foo = &get('bar');
$foo = 'for nothing';
var_dump($array);
function &get($search) {
    global $array;
    foreach($array as &$level1) {
        foreach($level1 as &$level2) {
            foreach($level2 as &$val) {
               if($val === $search) return $val;
            }
        }
    }
}

Output:

array(1) {
  [0]=>
  array(1) {
    [0]=>
    array(2) {
      [0]=>
      string(3) "foo"
      [1]=>
      &string(11) "for nothing"
    }
  }
}