Getting you started with the previously mentioned Tree module: 

use Tree ();

my %nodes;

while (<>) {
   my ($child, $parent) = split /:/;

   my $parent_node = $nodes{$parent} ||= Tree->new($parent);
   my $child_node  = $nodes{$child}  ||= Tree->new($child);

   $parent_node->add_child($child_node);
}

my @roots = grep { $_->is_root } values %nodes;

die("Invalid data: No roots\n")
   unless @roots;

foreach (@roots) {
   ...
}

[download]
If you are only expecting one root, replace the bottom loop with: 
die("Invalid data: Multiple roots\n")
   if @roots > 1;

my $root = $roots[0];

...

[download]

I didn't check for circular dependancies.

In reply to Re: how to construct tree from parent pointer list by ikegami
in thread how to construct tree from parent pointer list by bfdi533

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