# markdownSourcePosition A property for accessing a Markdown source position attribute. ``` let markdownSourcePosition: AttributeScopes.FoundationAttributes.MarkdownSourcePositionAttribute ``` ## Discussion This attribute indicates the position in the Markdown source where a run of attributed text begins and ends, omitting markup characters in the source. For example, after parsing the source string `“This is *emphasized*.”`, the text `emphasized` has a Markdown source position that starts at column `10`. This index is the `“e”` character, not the `“*”` formatting character. > Tip: > ``doc://com.apple.foundation/documentation/Foundation/AttributedString/MarkdownSourcePosition`` uses `1`-based counting for its row and column properties. For columns, the value represents a UTF-8 index. With multi-byte characters, the column is therefore the first byte of the character. An attributed string parsed from Markdown text includes this attribute only if the [`appliesSourcePositionAttributes`](/documentation/Foundation/AttributedString/MarkdownParsingOptions/appliesSourcePositionAttributes) value in the [`AttributedString.MarkdownParsingOptions`](/documentation/Foundation/AttributedString/MarkdownParsingOptions) provided to the [`AttributedString`](/documentation/Foundation/AttributedString) initializer is `true`. In the following example, the `markdown` source string contains several forms of Markdown formatting supported by AttributedString, including the [`stronglyEmphasized`](/documentation/Foundation/InlinePresentationIntent/stronglyEmphasized) inline presentation intent applied with double asterisks. The example parses the source string, enabling the [`appliesSourcePositionAttributes`](/documentation/Foundation/AttributedString/MarkdownParsingOptions/appliesSourcePositionAttributes) option. Next, the example loops over the attributed string’s runs, looking for a run that contains both a [`markdownSourcePosition`](/documentation/Foundation/AttributeScopes/FoundationAttributes/markdownSourcePosition) attribute and an [`inlinePresentationIntent`](/documentation/Foundation/AttributeScopes/FoundationAttributes/inlinePresentationIntent) whose value is [`stronglyEmphasized`](/documentation/Foundation/InlinePresentationIntent/stronglyEmphasized). If it finds such a run, it prints the source position attribute and the attributed text. ```swift let markdown = "Examples of *emphasis*, **strong emphasis**, and [link](https://example.com)." let options = AttributedString.MarkdownParsingOptions(appliesSourcePositionAttributes: true) if let attString = try? AttributedString(markdown: markdown, options: options) { for run in attString.runs { if let sourcePosition = run.markdownSourcePosition, let sourceRange = Range(sourcePosition, in: markdown), let presentationIntent = run.inlinePresentationIntent, presentationIntent.contains(.stronglyEmphasized) { print("Found strong emphasis: \(sourcePosition), text: '\(markdown[sourceRange])'") } } } // Prints: Found strong emphasis: MarkdownSourcePosition(startLine: 1, startColumn: 27, endLine: 1, endColumn: 41, startOffsets: Optional(Foundation.AttributedString.MarkdownSourcePosition.Offsets(utf8: 26, utf16: 26, utf8NextCodePoint: 27, utf16CurrentCodePointLength: 1)), endOffsets: Optional(Foundation.AttributedString.MarkdownSourcePosition.Offsets(utf8: 40, utf16: 40, utf8NextCodePoint: 41, utf16CurrentCodePointLength: 1))), text: 'strong emphasis' ``` This uses the convenience initializer , which creates a range from an [`AttributedString.MarkdownSourcePosition`](/documentation/Foundation/AttributedString/MarkdownSourcePosition) and the Markdown source string. Working with a range may be more convenient than working with the start and end position properties in [`AttributedString.MarkdownSourcePosition`](/documentation/Foundation/AttributedString/MarkdownSourcePosition). --- Copyright © 2026 Apple Inc. All rights reserved. | [Terms of Use](https://www.apple.com/legal/internet-services/terms/site.html) | [Privacy Policy](https://www.apple.com/privacy/privacy-policy)