First of all you need a basic understanding of it. There is nothing better than the official website; http://www.php.net There are plenty of sample code and online examples around, these for starters; http://www.tizag.com/phpT/ http://www.w3schools.com/php/default.asp The best way to learn is to get some sample code, make sure it works, then find out *and understand* what each part does. PHP, like any other program, is easy to master once you understand programming concepts/basics.
The official website is the authorative source for information; I.E If you want to find out how to use a certain function, it should be the first place you go to.... consider it the PHP manual really.
The 3 sites I linked before should be everything you need. - This is the official website - http://www.php.net/ - These 2 sites have good tutorials that will help you to learn PHP and get you started - http://www.tizag.com/phpT/ http://www.w3schools.com/php/default.asp
You should really start at the official website as all the information you need is there. Failing that, if you are looking to get started, take a look here; http://www.im-wizard.com/so-you-want-to-learn-php-heres-how-to-get-started/
two of the better online resources are here; http://www.tizag.com/phpT/ http://www.w3schools.com/php/default.asp Also, dont forget about http://www.php.net - this is the best place to learn it, but with less practical examples. Heres some more information for you; http://www.im-wizard.com/so-you-want-to-learn-php-heres-how-to-get-started/
I don't think "where" is the right question. PHP is most widely supporter language and can be learned from everywhere. From my experience I'd say that most important thing inside PHP learning curve is to actually use it. So I'd say that it's by far the best way to just get into the basics and then set yourself a goals what you're trying to achieve with programming. Then learn while building an application, let if be one for actual use or one for your own learning experience.
lekeg32 has provided some nice links there... but start from php.net !! PHP has been documented beautifully. Also start by building small applications, Experiment with it... fail... learn from mistakes ...keep an eye open for tricks and work arounds for commonly occuring errors and soon, you'll grow to become a good PHP programmer. Good luck
Daily to great w3school .com, learn and try their practice that will be enough ... or find the small/pocket size book: "Learning php in 24 hours" from Sxxx publisher / public library. Ked
YouTube, W3Schools, Tizag, PHPnet.....Google!! Also good books: # Apress PHP for Absolute Beginners # Php Reference - Beginner to intermediate php5 # PHP5 & MySQL Bible
As with anything, the more effort you put into something - the more you get out of it. If you want be a good coder, it really won't be easy. There is so much information out there about this that I'm wondering why you asked (theres even a sticky about it). If you want to go far you shouldn't expect people to spoon feed you this information.
The best programming book that I have ever used and still have today is: PHP and Mysql Web Development (Third edition). Learning PHP from articles or websites even videos can take a long time than if you were to buy a all book based on it. It also doesn't give you the confidence. So using a book and this www.php.net I consider to be the best and fastest way of learning PHP.