$this->Customer->recursive = 0;
           
        //check if there is form input
        //if there is form input write those values in session for paging
        if (isset($this->data[‘Customers’][‘search’])){
        $queryString = $this->data[‘Customers’][‘search’];
        CakeSession::write(‘Config.query’, $queryString);
        }

        //if there is no form input as in case of paging then get those values from session
       $queryString=CakeSession::read(‘Config.query’);

            $conditions = array();
            $queryStrings = explode(‘ ‘, $queryString);
            foreach($queryStrings as $query){
       
            $conditions[] = array(‘OR’ => array(               
            ‘Customer.id LIKE’ => “%$query%”,
            ‘Customer.first_name LIKE’ => “%$query%”,
            ‘Customer.middle_name LIKE’ => “%$query%”,
            ‘Customer.last_name LIKE’ => “%$query%”,
            ‘Customer.organization LIKE’ => “%$query%”,
            ‘Customer.address LIKE’ => “%$query%”,

            }
           
              return $this->set(‘customers’, $this->paginate($conditions));
}

view           
<?php
echo $this->Form->create(‘Customers’, array(‘action’=>’searchCustomers’));
echo $this->Form->input(‘search’);
echo $this->Form->end(‘Search’);
?>