Systems and methods are provided for utilizing stacks to identify Advanced Function Presentation (AFP) objects. The system includes a memory and a controller. The memory is able to store AFP print data. The controller is able to perform a parsing process on the AFP print data to identify AFP objects. During the parsing process the controller is able to: (A) advance a parsing location within the AFP print data, and (B) if the parsing location corresponds with a BEGIN field for an AFP object, then push an entry representing the AFP object onto a stack. During the parsing process, the controller is further able to (C) determine whether the stack matches a pattern of entries defined by a rule, (D) if the stack matches the pattern, then process the AFP object at the parsing location to perform an action defined in the rule, and (E) repeat operations (A)-(D).