add.flag <- function(pheatmap,
                     kept.labels,
                     repel.degree) {

  # repel.degree = number within [0, 1], which controls how much 
  #                space to allocate for repelling labels.
  ## repel.degree = 0: spread out labels over existing range of kept labels
  ## repel.degree = 1: spread out labels over the full y-axis

  heatmap <- pheatmap$gtable

  new.label <- heatmap$grobs[[which(heatmap$layout$name == "row_names")]] 

  # keep only labels in kept.labels, replace the rest with ""
  new.label$label <- ifelse(new.label$label %in% kept.labels, 
                            new.label$label, "")

  # calculate evenly spaced out y-axis positions
  repelled.y <- function(d, d.select, k = repel.degree){
    # d = vector of distances for labels
    # d.select = vector of T/F for which labels are significant

    # recursive function to get current label positions
    # (note the unit is "npc" for all components of each distance)
    strip.npc <- function(dd){
      if(!"unit.arithmetic" %in% class(dd)) {
        return(as.numeric(dd))
      }

      d1 <- strip.npc(dd$arg1)
      d2 <- strip.npc(dd$arg2)
      fn <- dd$fname
      return(lazyeval::lazy_eval(paste(d1, fn, d2)))
    }

    full.range <- sapply(seq_along(d), function(i) strip.npc(d[i]))
    selected.range <- sapply(seq_along(d[d.select]), function(i) strip.npc(d[d.select][i]))

    return(unit(seq(from = max(selected.range) + k*(max(full.range) - max(selected.range)),
                    to = min(selected.range) - k*(min(selected.range) - min(full.range)), 
                    length.out = sum(d.select)), 
                "npc"))
  }
  new.y.positions <- repelled.y(new.label$y,
                                d.select = new.label$label != "")
  new.flag <- segmentsGrob(x0 = new.label$x,
                           x1 = new.label$x + unit(0.15, "npc"),
                           y0 = new.label$y[new.label$label != ""],
                           y1 = new.y.positions)

  # shift position for selected labels
  new.label$x <- new.label$x + unit(0.2, "npc")
  new.label$y[new.label$label != ""] <- new.y.positions

  # add flag to heatmap
  heatmap <- gtable::gtable_add_grob(x = heatmap,
                                   grobs = new.flag,
                                   t = 4, 
                                   l = 4
  )

  # replace label positions in heatmap
  heatmap$grobs[[which(heatmap$layout$name == "row_names")]] <- new.label

  # plot result
  grid.newpage()
  grid.draw(heatmap)

  # return a copy of the heatmap invisibly
  invisible(heatmap)
}