Make this block of php code dynamic or recursive - php

Question

I've written the following block of code to find if a word exists in a grid of nodes.
function findWord() {
$notInLoc = [];
if ($list = $this->findAll("a")) {
foreach($list as $node) {
$notInLoc[] = $node->loc;
if ($list2 = $this->findAllConnectedTo($node, "r", $notInLoc)) {
foreach($list2 as $node2) {
$notInLoc[] = $node2->loc;
if ($list3 = $this->findAllConnectedTo($node2, "t", $notInLoc)) {
foreach($list3 as $node3) {
return true;
}
}
}
}
}
}
return false;
}
This "works" and passes all my 3-letter word test cases because I've hard-coded the characters I'm looking for and I know how long the word is. But what I need to do is pass in any word, regardless of length and letters, and return true if I found the word against all these restrictions.
To summarize the algorithm here:
1) I find all the nodes that contain the first character "a" and get a list of those nodes. That's my starting point.
2) For each "a" I'm looking for all the "r"s that are connected to it but not in a location I'm already using. (Each node has a location key, and that key is stored in the notInLoc array while looking through it. I realize that this may break though because notInLoc is only being reset the first time I enter the function so every time I go through the foreach it keeps pushing the same location in.
3) Once I've found all the "r"s connected to the "a" I'm currently on, I check to see if there are any "t"s connected to the "r"s. If there is at least 1 "t" connected, then I know the word has been found.
I'm having trouble refactoring this to make it dynamic. I'll give you the idea I was working with, but it is broken.
function inner($word, $list, $i = 0, $notInLoc = []) {
$i++;
foreach($list as $node) {
$notInLoc[] = $node->loc;
if ($list2 = $this->findAllConnectedTo($node, $word[$i], $notInLoc)) {
if ($i == (strlen($word) - 1)) {
return true;
} else {
$this->inner($word, $list2, $i, $notInLoc);
}
}
}
return false;
}
function findWord2($word) {
if ($list = $this->findAll($word[0])) {
return $this->inner($word, $list);
}
return false;
}
I understand that there are other ways to solve problems like this, but I need it to work using only the functions findAll which returns all nodes with a specific value, or false and findAllConnectedTo which returns all nodes with a specific value connected to a node that are not contained on the "Do Not Use" notInLoc list.

Answer 1

You need to pass result through all nested contexts to the top, because found word will eventually return true, but it will vanish in upper level (continue loop and return false). Try this:
if ($list2 = $this->findAllConnectedTo($node, $word[$i], $notInLoc)) {
if ($i == strlen($word) - 1 || $this->inner($word, $list2, $i, $notInLoc)) {
return true;
}
}
Next I'd take care of $word needlesly passed around. It stays the same for all contexts - only pointer changes.