Shell Programming and Scripting

REINDEXING A DATABASE
Hello,
I have a database which in fact is a personal dictionary of a special kind to handle name homophones The structure is as follows:
a=b=c=d=e=f
This structure is an instruction to the program that whenever it encounters such a set of correlations it should treat them as one and link them together.
The database unfortunately is not static but is dynamic and as more and more data streams in, the databse structure needs to be changed radically. In other words the existing links need to be restructured.
An example will make this clear:
Existing database with a linked list:
samar=shamar=sammar=samara=sammara=shamra=samra
New input
samar=shamar=sammar=shammar
samara=samara
shamra=samra
This would mean that the existing index would need to be reindexed such that the final output would be:
samar=shamar=sammar=shammar
samara=samara
shamra=samra
Note that =shammar has been added and that
samara=samara
shamra=samra
have been removed from the existing index and provided a new status.
I have tried all tricks possible to get the database to be re-indexed programmatically but I seem to get wrong results, which would mean that the program for indexing homophones into groups fails.
Any help given by way of a script would be gratefully acknowledged

Show what you have tried so far...and what are the rules for removing an existing index with new input is it the match on first item of the list...explain clearly as your post is confusing.

Hello,
I had written a macro and a script specific to Ultraedit to handle the reindexing. But both have not worked. Hence the request for a script in Perl or in Awk to handle the reindexing.
Basically what I need is a script which will reindex a database as and when new matches pop in.
This means that if I have an existing string such as a=b=c=d=e
and on analysis I find that that in fact a=b=c=d is to be reindexed as
a=b=f (a new entity "f" is to be added)
c=d
e
The existing string
a=b=c=d=e
should read as:
a=b=f
c=d
e
I hope what I have explained makes the problem clear.
Many thanks for your query