how to advance the cursor

Assuming you mean

"How do I move the insertion point from one position in the text to another position in the text?"

Pressing the down arrow once moves the insertion point down to the next row.

Pressing the right arrow moves the insertion point one character to the right.

Up arrow and left arrow make similar moves in the opposite directions to the two examples above.

Pressing option-arrow moves the insertion point to:

•   beginning or end of the current paragraph (Up or Down arrows)
• beginning or end of the current word (if the insertion point is in or at the opposite end of the current word)
• beginning of the previous word or end of the next word if the insertion point is not in or touching the 'far' end of a word.

Pressing command-arrow moves the insertion point:

• UP to the top of the document.
• DOWN to the bottom of the document.
• LEFT to the beginnning of the current line.
• RIGHT to the end of the current line.

You can also place the insertion point at any location in the text by clicking that location.

Regards,

Barry