protected function whitespace() {
        $gotWhite = false;
        while (preg_match(self::$whitePattern, $this->buffer, $m, null, $this->count)) {
            if ($this->insertComments) {
                if (isset($m[1]) && empty($this->commentsSeen[$this->count])) {
                    $this->append(array("comment", $m[1]));
                    $this->commentsSeen[$this->count] = true;
                }
            }
            $this->count += strlen($m[0]);
            $gotWhite = true;
        }
        return $gotWhite;
    }