// This assumes that mysql has already been hooked up at the time you construct this

if(isset($_POST['search']))
{
    $searchs = array();
    if(!empty($_POST['contactname']))
    {
        // first for protection against sql injection
        $contact2use='%' . mysql_real_escape_string($_POST['contactname']) . '%';
        // then make a second version to search for
        $compressedcontact=str_replace(' ','',$contact2use);
        // then look for either version 
        $searchs[]="contactname LIKE '" . $contact2use . "' or contactname like '" . $compressedcontact . "'";
    }