JTextComponent: getCaretPosition()
import javax.swing.JTextArea; import javax.swing.text.JTextComponent; public class Main { public static void main(String[] argv) throws Exception { JTextComponent c = new JTextArea(); c.getCaretPosition(); if (c.getCaretPosition() < c.getDocument().getLength()) { char ch = c.getText(c.getCaretPosition(), 1).charAt(0); } // Move the caret int newPosition = 0; c.moveCaretPosition(newPosition); } }