I am trying to pass by reference from a global variable to another global variable inside of a function.  From what I can tell it does not work... however, if I try it outside of a function it works just fine.  Is this by design?  Or am I doing something wrong?  Here is an example of what works and what doesn't.

<doesnotwork>
<?php
function test()
{
  global $current;
  global $parent;

  if (!is_array($current)) {
    print("** inside if **<br>");
    $parent[0] = array();
    $current = &$parent[0];
  } else {
    print("** inside else **<br>");
    $current[0] = array();
    $current = &$current[0];
  }
}

for ($i = 0; $i < 2; $i++) {
  test();
}

$current[0] = "me";

print("Current[0]=".$current[0]."<br>");
print("Parent[0][0][0]=".$parent[0][0][0]."<br>"); 
?>

result is
** inside if **
** inside if **
Current[0]=me
Parent[0][0][0]=
</doesnotwork>

<doeswork>
<?php
for ($i=0; $i < 2; $i++) {
  if (!is_array($current)) {
    print("** inside if **<br>");
    $parent[0] = array();
    $current = &$parent[0];
  } else {
    $current[0] = array();
    $current = &$current[0];
  }
}

$current[0] = "me";

print("Current[0]=".$current[0]."<br>");
print("Parent[0][0][0]=".$parent[0][0][0]."<br>");
?>

** inside if **
** inside else **
Current[0]=me
Parent[0][0][0]=me
</doeswork>