Why the refcount is 2 not 1?

Question

  $var = 1;
  debug_zval_dump($var);

Output:

long(1) refcount(2)


  $var = 1;
  $var_dup = &$var;
  debug_zval_dump($var);exit         


        

Answer 1

I think the documentation for this method explains this under the section "Beware the Ref Count":

debug_zval_dump