c:\@Work\Perl\monks>perl -wMstrict -le
"use Data::Dump;
 ;;
 my %hash;
 dd \%hash;
 ;;
 if (do { no autovivification;  exists $hash{foo}{bar}{99}{x}{y} }) {
   print 'got it';
   }
 ;;
 dd \%hash;
"
{}

{}