How can I learn PHP at home step by step?
PHP Tutorials
You need two things to get started: a development environment to run your PHP scripts and a code editor to write the code.
Install a local development environment.
Install a code editor.
Start coding.
DAY 1: PHP AND HTML.
DAY 2: OPERATORS, FUNCTIONS AND STRINGS.
DAY 3: OOP (object-oriented programming)
Which is the best tutorial for PHP?
PHP Tutorials
Top 15 Free PHP Tutorials for Beginners
Official PHP Manual. Official PHP Manual. ...
W3Schools PHP Tutorial. W3Schools PHP tutorial. ...
PHP: The Right Way. PHP the right way. ...
FreeCodeCamp's Free PHP tutorial. FreeCodeCamp.org. ...
Learn PHP with Codeacademy. ...
PHP Apprentice. ...
GeeksforGeeks PHP Tutorials. ...
TutorialsPoint PHP Tutorial
27 Best Tutorials to Learn PHP in 2021 (Free and Paid Resources)
Why Learn PHP?
PHP is a server-side scripting language that is primarily used to create dynamic web pages. You’ll see PHP doing things like generating interactive content, collecting form data, sending information to visitors, and authenticating users. It’s also the backbone of WordPress and its plugins, which add all sorts of unique functions to the CMS. You can do pretty much anything with PHP.
It’s also generally very easy to master and a good starter language for new devs. If you do have a background in programming, you should tear right through it. But even total beginners won’t struggle too much navigating the ins and outs of PHP.
And if you’re diving into WordPress development, PHP is a must. It’s required to modify WordPress or write themes and plugins, and it’s the core of the whole CMS. HTML, CSS, and JavaScript are also languages to look into, but none are as integral to WordPress as PHP.
The last reason to learn PHP: much like other programming languages, it has a huge community and a ton of free resources. That means you have plenty of places to turn to ask for help, exchange ideas, and download free software or find helpful guides.
On that note, let’s dive into these PHP tutorials you can find online.
Want to get started as a web dev or upgrade your services with backend expertise? Learn PHP as your next step! Check out these 25+ resources, both free and paid, to find the best one for you.Click to Tweet
Top 15 Free PHP Tutorials for Beginners
If you can’t afford paid courses or just want to try out PHP to see how you like it, free PHP tutorials are a great place to start. Free doesn’t always mean lower quality, there are plenty of free tutorials out there that are just as good (or even better) than some paid lessons. Many developers say that the free online resources are so good that you might not even need to purchase premium courses!
Each of these websites offers a unique way of learning PHP. Start here, and if you need more guidance, you can move on to the paid PHP tutorials below.
1. Official PHP Manual
Best PHP tutorials - official php manual
Official PHP Manual
Where better to start than the official documentation from the creators of PHP? This guide walks you through everything, from an introduction to PHP to how to install PHP and grasp the basic syntax. It’s a wonderful first read, especially if you’re used to programming documentation already.
The one issue with this is that, while it does cover some advanced features, it can only take you so far. It’s also quite straightforward and to the point, which is great for some, but total beginners might benefit more from a guided tutorial.
Check out the documentation and read through a few sections. See how it works for you. For many, a reference manual and a lot of self-guided practice is the best way to learn.
2. W3Schools PHP Tutorial
Best PHP tutorials - w3Schools PHP
W3Schools PHP tutorial
W3Schools is a great resource for beginner web developers of any age. Its guides are very simple and easy to follow, plus there are lots of references and examples to look at and plenty of exercises and quizzes to help you memorize PHP. You can even get W3Schools online certification.
If you ever want to learn a new programming language and are looking for tutorials that are fun and simple to work with, check W3Schools’ documentation.
3. PHP: The Right Way
Best PHP tutorials - PHP the right way
PHP the right way
Like every programming language, PHP has best practices you should follow. Fail to do so and your code will be slow and clunky, and perhaps even break entirely. PHP: The Right Way tells you all the programming standards that might not be obvious to new developers.
It’s not a beginners’ tutorial that will walk you through everything step by step, but it’s still worth a read-through so you can create quality code.
4. FreeCodeCamp’s Free PHP tutorial
Best PHP tutorials - PHP video tutorial
FreeCodeCamp.org
If you love watching video tutorials, this huge five-hour session is perfect for you. The full course covers all the basics of PHP in depth, showing you everything you’ll need to know from scratch.
Dedicate an afternoon to this, and you’ll come out of it a beginner PHP programmer. If you’ve already studied a little PHP and want to skip ahead, you can jump to any section by clicking the timestamps in the description.
5. Learn PHP with Codeacademy
Best PHP tutorials - codeacademy php
Codeacademy
Do you learn best by diving right into programming? Codeacademy is a totally free resource that teaches through code rather than with just video or text tutorials. Though it’s primarily made up of interactive lessons, there are also quizzes, articles, and freeform projects. It’s just like a self-guided college course and all you need to do is make an account.
6. PHP Apprentice
php apprentice
PHP Apprentice
Beginner or experienced, PHP Apprentice has good advice for you. The free online book is a work in progress, currently with twenty-two bite-sized pages mostly filled with examples of PHP in action. It’s a little like typical programming documentation, but a lot simpler and easier to grasp.
7. GeeksforGeeks PHP Tutorials
Best PHP tutorials - geeksforgeeks php
GeeksforGeeks
A lot of these free resources cover the basics and not much else. This gigantic set of tutorials goes over absolutely everything, covering all the functions and libraries PHP has to offer.
This reads less like a guide and more like documentation, so if you liked the official PHP manual but want something a little more substantial, try out this site.
8. TutorialsPoint PHP Tutorial
tutorialspoint php
TutorialsPoint
This is another absolutely huge resource of PHP learning, but rather than very straightforward, documentation-style pages, it’s structured more like a series of tutorials. There’s quite a lot here, from the basics to more advanced topics, plus examples of using PHP for logins, forms, and with AJAX.
9. PHP Basics Playlist
php basics
Codecourse
If you’re still grasping at the basics and prefer video walkthroughs, these PHP tutorials have exactly what you need. The 35 videos are relatively short, ranging from 5 to 20 minutes and covering a lot of different topics. You can watch the whole series for free in about five hours.
10. Learn PHP in Y Minutes
learn php in y minutes
Learn X in Y Minutes
Want to learn PHP, fast? This document goes over everything briefly and with no frills, just code. There’s no hand-holding or lengthy explanations, it manages to condense PHP into a single page. Great if you like your tutorials to the point.
11. Learn-php.org Free Interactive PHP Tutorial
Best PHP tutorials - learn PHP interactive tutorial
Learn-php.org free interactive PHP tutorial
The unique thing about this PHP tutorial is that it’s a set of interactive exercises that encourage you to try out coding and see if you can get the expected output. If you fail, it’ll let you know where you went wrong, just like a real code compiler. Try this out if you want to test out your syntax in real-time with a guided lesson.
12. The Net Ninja’s PHP Tutorial for Beginners Playlist
The Net Ninja's free PHP tutorial
The Net Ninja’s free PHP tutorial
If you want to build your own website from scratch, here is the perfect video playlist. Using PHP and MySQL together, you can build a fully functional website with a database and learn how to code all sorts of functions like forms and data validation. These videos are excellent and you’re sure to learn a lot from them.
13. PHP5 Tutorial
php5 tutorial
PHP5 tutorial
This documentation walks you through PHP and MySQL with plenty of helpful images and easy-to-follow guidance. The one downside is that it’s focused on PHP 5, which has already reached its end of life. PHP 5.6 is still widely used across the web, but it’s probably best to work with PHP 7 if you can. This website still covers the basics of PHP fairly well, so it may still be worth reading.
