No, not really. exists never autovivifies, but it doesn't prevent anything else (such as ->) from causing autovivification. In the given example ($x->{a}->{c}), the first -> autovivifies $x and the second -> autovivifies $x->{a}. This occurs independently of exists. 

>perl -le"$x->{a}->{c}; print $x; print $x->{a}"
HASH(0x225f18)
HASH(0x226020)

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In reply to Re^2: exists on hash autovivifies right? by ikegami
in thread exists on hash autovivifies right? by Anonymous Monk

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