I would recommend two resources for beginners:
- Laracast, by Jeffrey Way, has a free PHP basic series and hundreds of intermediate and advanced screencasts (some are free): https://laracasts.com/series/php-for-beginners
- PHP Pandas book (PHP 7 already), by Dayle Rees, read it online for free or buy the e-book: https://daylerees.com/php-pandas
Both resources are up to date and follow best practices.