diff --git a/R/utils.R b/R/utils.R
index 9df9d9f..d73f24d 100644
--- a/R/utils.R
+++ b/R/utils.R
@@ -10,3 +10,22 @@ get_list_indexing <- function(this_list, index) {
 
     return(list("divisor" = divisor, "modulus" = modulus))
 }
+
+#   Given a character vector, return an equal-length character vector of
+#   unique one-letter initials
+get_short_flags = function(loops) {
+    #   Try just taking the first letter of the names
+    short_flags = substr(names(loops), 1, 1)
+
+    #   Get unused letters
+    remaining_letters = setdiff(letters, short_flags)
+    if (length(remaining_letters) == 0) {
+        stop("Can't handle more than 26 loops.")
+    }
+
+    #   Overwrite duplicates with unused letters
+    dup_flags = duplicated(short_flags)
+    short_flags[dup_flags] = remaining_letters[1:length(which(dup_flags))]
+
+    return(short_flags)
+}