$ perl
use Data::Dumper;

my $hash;

my $rval = \ $hash{a}{b}{c}{"hlst"};

$$rval = "" unless defined $$rval;

print Dumper \%hash;

__END__
$VAR1 = {
          'a' => {
                   'b' => {
                            'c' => {
                                     'hlst' => ''
                                   }
                          }
                 }
        };