If I understand you correctly, have you considered Data::Alias? This would allow you to copy results hash of "pointers" (or paths) to the data itself without altering the original data structure.

The results hash could look something like this: $results{"$VAR1->{'1'}->{'1a'}"} = "element1"; Your search could push results into that hash. This is way your result and your path are both accessible via the same hash.

To navigate a HoHoH, just do the following:

foreach my $a (keys %hash) {
  foreach my $b (keys %{$hash{$a}}) {
    print "$hash{$a}{$b}\n";
  }
}
[download]