Problem with returning value from a recursive method in PHP

<code><?php
$array = array(
    0 => array(
      '1a' => '',
      '3a' => '',
      '6a' => array(
        '6a1' => '',
        '6a2' => '',
        '6a3' => array(
          '6a31' => '',
          '6a33' => '',
          '6a34' => '1',
          ),
        ),
      ),
    1 => array(
      '3b' => '',
      '4b' => array(
        '4b1' => '',
        '4b2' => '',
        ),
      '6b' => '',
      )
    );

function search_val($key, $arr) {
  $v = '';
  foreach ($arr as $ks => $vs) {
    if($ks != $key && is_array($vs)) {
      search_val($key, $vs);
    }else if($ks != $key && is_string($vs)) {
      continue;
    }else if($ks == $key) {
      $v = $vs;
      break;
    }
  }
  return $v; 
  //var_dump($v);exit; //这里是有值的 为1
  //echo $v;  //测试这样可以直接输出
}
$va = search_val('6a34', $array);
var_dump($va); //$va始终为空 
</code>

The meaning of this method is to get the value corresponding to val for the subscript $key. I return $v at the end of the method, and then I assign the result of this return to a value $va, this The value is always empty, but when I print $v at the end of the method, it has a value. Why is this? Is it a problem with variable scope or is it caused by irregularities in my code? Solve