diff --git a/libs/source-region b/libs/source-region
index 9c72959..3ec7005 160000
--- a/libs/source-region
+++ b/libs/source-region
@@ -1 +1 @@
-Subproject commit 9c72959cd398909139137b0831a19c2e05161fe2
+Subproject commit 3ec70051987a74bcc3e885e59a19536fc9c77772
diff --git a/src/parser.experiments.ts b/src/parser.experiments.ts
index 96f283c..9c5469f 100644
--- a/src/parser.experiments.ts
+++ b/src/parser.experiments.ts
@@ -1,5 +1,6 @@
-import { sourceText } from 'source-region';
+import { CodePointString, sourceText } from 'source-region';
 import { parseDocument } from './parser';
+import { matchCodePointString } from './recognizers';
 import { Expr } from './syntax';
 
 // === Experiments ===
@@ -32,6 +33,15 @@ function experiment06_unicodeSpans(): void {
   logParse("unicode spans", "alpha 💥 (beta 2)");
 }
 
+function experiment07_matchCodePointString(): void {
+  const region = sourceText("λx").fullRegion();
+  const cursor = region.makeCursor();
+  const lambda = CodePointString.makeFromString("λ");
+  console.log("==== recognizer:match code point string ====");
+  console.dir(matchCodePointString(cursor, lambda), { depth: null });
+  console.log("cursor", cursor.current());
+}
+
 function logParse(name: string, input: string): void {
   const region = sourceText(input).fullRegion();
   const result = parseDocument(region);
@@ -49,4 +59,5 @@ function logParse(name: string, input: string): void {
   experiment04_recoverAtDocumentLevel,
   experiment05_recoverInsideList,
   experiment06_unicodeSpans,
+  experiment07_matchCodePointString,
 ].forEach((experiment) => experiment());
diff --git a/src/parser.ts b/src/parser.ts
index 85f49cd..b967d30 100644
--- a/src/parser.ts
+++ b/src/parser.ts
@@ -12,6 +12,7 @@ import type {
   CodePointSpan,
   SourceRegion,
 } from 'source-region';
+import { consumeWhile, consumeWhile1, skipWhile } from './recognizers';
 import { ConcreteSyntax } from './syntax';
 
 // Whitespace convention:
@@ -82,7 +83,7 @@ class Parser {
   private readonly errors: ParseError[] = [];
 
   constructor(private readonly region: SourceRegion) {
-    this.cursor = new SourceCursor(region);
+    this.cursor = region.makeCursor();
   }
 
   parseDocument(): ParseDocumentResult {
@@ -176,14 +177,12 @@ class Parser {
   }
 
   private parseNumber(): ConcreteSyntax {
-    const start = this.cursor.checkpoint();
-
-    while (isDigit(this.cursor.peek() ?? -1)) {
-      this.cursor.advance();
+    const match = consumeWhile1(this.cursor, isDigit);
+    if (match.tag === "none") {
+      throw new Error("parseNumber called when cursor is not at a number");
     }
 
-    const span = this.cursor.spanFrom(start);
-    const text = this.cursor.slice(span);
+    const { span, text } = match;
     const value = Number(text);
 
     if (!Number.isSafeInteger(value)) {
@@ -202,10 +201,7 @@ class Parser {
     const start = this.cursor.checkpoint();
     this.cursor.advance();
 
-    while (isIdentifierPart(this.cursor.peek() ?? -1)) {
-      this.cursor.advance();
-    }
-
+    consumeWhile(this.cursor, isIdentifierPart);
     const span = this.cursor.spanFrom(start);
     return ConcreteSyntax.identifier(this.cursor.slice(span), span);
   }
@@ -240,9 +236,7 @@ class Parser {
   }
 
   private skipWhitespace(): void {
-    while (isAsciiWhitespace(this.cursor.peek() ?? -1)) {
-      this.cursor.advance();
-    }
+    skipWhile(this.cursor, isAsciiWhitespace);
   }
 
   private found(): FoundSyntax {
diff --git a/src/recognizers.ts b/src/recognizers.ts
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..51d42d8
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/recognizers.ts
@@ -0,0 +1,70 @@
+import type { CodePoint, CodePointSpan, CodePointString, SourceCursor } from 'source-region';
+
+export type TextMatch =
+| { tag: "match"; span: CodePointSpan; text: string }
+| { tag: "none" };
+
+export namespace TextMatch {
+  export function match(span: CodePointSpan, text: string): TextMatch {
+    return { tag: "match", span, text };
+  }
+
+  export function none(): TextMatch {
+    return { tag: "none" };
+  }
+}
+
+export function consumeWhile(
+  cursor: SourceCursor,
+  predicate: (cp: CodePoint) => boolean,
+): CodePointSpan {
+  const start = cursor.checkpoint();
+
+  while (true) {
+    const cp = cursor.peek();
+    if (cp === undefined || !predicate(cp)) break;
+    cursor.advance();
+  }
+
+  return cursor.spanFrom(start);
+}
+
+export function consumeWhile1(
+  cursor: SourceCursor,
+  predicate: (cp: CodePoint) => boolean,
+): TextMatch {
+  const start = cursor.checkpoint();
+  const span = consumeWhile(cursor, predicate);
+
+  if (span.start === span.end) {
+    cursor.restore(start);
+    return TextMatch.none();
+  }
+
+  return TextMatch.match(span, cursor.slice(span));
+}
+
+export function skipWhile(
+  cursor: SourceCursor,
+  predicate: (cp: CodePoint) => boolean,
+): CodePointSpan {
+  return consumeWhile(cursor, predicate);
+}
+
+export function matchCodePointString(
+  cursor: SourceCursor,
+  pattern: CodePointString,
+): TextMatch {
+  const start = cursor.checkpoint();
+
+  for (const expected of pattern.codePoints) {
+    if (cursor.peek() !== expected) {
+      cursor.restore(start);
+      return TextMatch.none();
+    }
+    cursor.advance();
+  }
+
+  const span = cursor.spanFrom(start);
+  return TextMatch.match(span, cursor.slice(span));
+}