condensing a list from MySQL

Hi all, not sure where to start with this. I have a keywords field in a mysql database - allows up to 100 characters of words seperated by spaces. at a late stage in the development process the client would now like a summary list of keywords that they've entered. I guess what I need to do is open each keyword field, extract the words, add them to an array, remove duplicates and sort alphabetically. sounds easy but I'm still finding my way - anyone got a sample script or some helpful hints they'd care to share? thanks Tony