I have xampp version 3.2.2 insalled, PHP version 7.1.1,
xdebug extension https://xdebug.org/files/php_xdebug-2.5.5-7.1-vc14.dll

I have the PHP code
$a = "new string";
xdebug_debug_zval( 'a' );

That outputs
a:
(refcount=2, is_ref=0)string 'new string' (length=10)

that refcount should be refcount=1

this is unexpected behaviour

my setting in php.ini is
[XDebug]
zend_extension="D:\xampp\php\ext\php_xdebug.dll"
xdebug.remote_enable=1
xdebug.remote_handler="dbgp"
xdebug.remote_host="127.0.0.1"
xdebug.remote_port=9000