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---
layout: default
title: Cursor
description: Using the Cursor object to parse Markdown content
---
# Cursor
A `Cursor` is essentially a fancy string wrapper that remembers your current position as you parse it. It contains a set of highly-optimized methods making it easy to parse characters, match regular expressions, and more.
## Supported Encodings
As of now, only UTF-8 (and, by extension, ASCII) encoding is supported.
## Usage
Instantiating a new `Cursor` is as simple as:
```php
use League\CommonMark\Cursor;
$cursor = new Cursor('Hello World!');
```
Or, if you're creating a custom [block parser](/1.6/customization/block-parsing/) or [inline parser](/1.6/customization/inline-parsing/), a pre-configured `Cursor` will be provided to you with (with the `Cursor` already set to the current `position` trying to be parsed).
## Methods
You can then call any of the following methods to parse the string within that `Cursor`:
| Method | Purpose |
| ---------------------------------- | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| `getPosition()` | Returns the current position/index of the `Cursor` within the string |
| `getColumn()` | Returns the current column (used when handling tabbed indentation) |
| `getIndent()` | Returns the current amount of indentation |
| `isIndented()` | Returns whether the cursor is indented to `INDENT_LEVEL` |
| `getCharacter()` | Returns the character at the current position |
| `getCharacter(int $index)` | Returns the character at the given absolute position |
| `peek()` | Returns the next character without changing the current `position` of the cursor |
| `peek(int $offset)` | Returns the character `$offset` chars away without changing the current `position` of the cursor |
| `getNextNonSpacePosition()` | Returns the position of the next character which is not a space or tab |
| `getNextNonSpaceCharacter()` | Returns the next character which isn't a space (or tab) |
| `advance()` | Moves the cursor forward by 1 character |
| `advanceBy(int $characters)` | Moves the cursor forward by `$characters` characters |
| `advanceBy(int $characters, true)` | Moves the cursor forward by `$characters` characters, handling tabs as columns |
| `advanceBySpaceOrTab()` | Advances forward one character (and returns `true`) if it's a space or tab; returns false otherwise |
| `advanceToNextNonSpaceOrTab()` | Advances forward past all spaces and tabs found, returning the number of such characters found |
| `advanceToNextNonSpaceOrNewline()` | Advances forward past all spaces and newlines found, returning the number of such characters found |
| `advanceToEnd()` | Advances the position to the very end of the string, returning the number of such characters passed |
| `match(string $regex)` | Attempts to match the given `$regex`; returns `null` if matching fails, otherwise it advances past and returns the matched text |
| `getPreviousText()` | Returns the text that was just advanced through during the last `advance__()` or `match()` operation |
| `getRemainder()` | Returns the contents of the string from the current position through the end of the string |
| `isBlank()` | Returns whether the remainder is blank (we're at the end or only space characters remain) |
| `isAtEnd()` | Returns whether the cursor has reached the end of the string |
| `saveState()` | Encapsulates the current state of the cursor into an `array` in case you need to `restoreState()` later |
| `restoreState($state)` | Pass the result of `saveState()` back into here to restore the original state of the `Cursor` |
| `getLine()` | Returns the entire string (not taking the position into account) |
|
