diff --git a/lark-stubs/lark.pyi b/lark-stubs/lark.pyi
index b310dc5..ecbbb09 100644
--- a/lark-stubs/lark.pyi
+++ b/lark-stubs/lark.pyi
@@ -15,7 +15,7 @@ class PostLex(Protocol):
 
     def process(self, stream: Iterator[Token]) -> Iterator[Token]:
         ...
-    
+
     always_accept: Iterable[str]
 
 
@@ -42,12 +42,12 @@ class LarkOptions:
 class PackageResource(object):
     pkg_name: str
     path: str
-    
+
     def __init__(self, pkg_name: str, path: str): ...
 
 class FromPackageLoader:
     def __init__(self, pkg_name: str, search_paths: Tuple[str, ...] = ...): ...
-    
+
     def __call__(self, base_path: Union[None, str, PackageResource], grammar_path: str) -> Tuple[PackageResource, str]: ...
 
 
@@ -88,12 +88,12 @@ class Lark:
     @classmethod
     def open(cls: Type[_T], grammar_filename: str, rel_to: Optional[str] = None, **options) -> _T:
         ...
-    
+
     @classmethod
     def open_from_package(cls: Type[_T], package: str, grammar_path: str, search_paths: Tuple[str, ...] = ..., **options) -> _T:
         ...
 
-    def lex(self, text: str) -> Iterator[Token]:
+    def lex(self, text: str, dont_ignore: bool = False) -> Iterator[Token]:
         ...
 
     def get_terminal(self, name: str) -> TerminalDef:
diff --git a/lark/lark.py b/lark/lark.py
index 80327d9..715eb60 100644
--- a/lark/lark.py
+++ b/lark/lark.py
@@ -11,7 +11,7 @@ from .load_grammar import load_grammar, FromPackageLoader
 from .tree import Tree
 from .common import LexerConf, ParserConf
 
-from .lexer import Lexer, TraditionalLexer, TerminalDef
+from .lexer import Lexer, TraditionalLexer, TerminalDef, LexerThread
 from .parse_tree_builder import ParseTreeBuilder
 from .parser_frontends import get_frontend, _get_lexer_callbacks
 from .grammar import Rule
@@ -355,8 +355,13 @@ class Lark(Serialize):
 
     __serialize_fields__ = 'parser', 'rules', 'options'
 
-    def _build_lexer(self):
-        return TraditionalLexer(self.lexer_conf)
+    def _build_lexer(self, dont_ignore=False):
+        lexer_conf = self.lexer_conf
+        if dont_ignore:
+            from copy import copy
+            lexer_conf = copy(lexer_conf)
+            lexer_conf.ignore = ()
+        return TraditionalLexer(lexer_conf)
 
     def _prepare_callbacks(self):
         self.parser_class = get_frontend(self.options.parser, self.options.lexer)
@@ -419,6 +424,7 @@ class Lark(Serialize):
             self._callbacks,
             self.options,  # Not all, but multiple attributes are used
         )
+        self.lexer_conf = self.parser.lexer_conf
         self.terminals = self.parser.lexer_conf.terminals
         self._terminals_dict = {t.name: t for t in self.terminals}
         return self
@@ -468,11 +474,17 @@ class Lark(Serialize):
         return 'Lark(open(%r), parser=%r, lexer=%r, ...)' % (self.source_path, self.options.parser, self.options.lexer)
 
 
-    def lex(self, text):
-        "Only lex (and postlex) the text, without parsing it. Only relevant when lexer='standard'"
-        if not hasattr(self, 'lexer'):
-            self.lexer = self._build_lexer()
-        stream = self.lexer.lex(text)
+    def lex(self, text, dont_ignore=False):
+        """Only lex (and postlex) the text, without parsing it. Only relevant when lexer='standard'
+
+        When dont_ignore=True, the lexer will return all tokens, even those marked for %ignore.
+        """
+        if not hasattr(self, 'lexer') or dont_ignore:
+            lexer = self._build_lexer(dont_ignore)
+        else:
+            lexer = self.lexer
+        lexer_thread = LexerThread(lexer, text)
+        stream = lexer_thread.lex(None)
         if self.options.postlex:
             return self.options.postlex.process(stream)
         return stream
diff --git a/lark/lexer.py b/lark/lexer.py
index 114b4ce..730d95e 100644
--- a/lark/lexer.py
+++ b/lark/lexer.py
@@ -10,6 +10,7 @@ from copy import copy
 
 
 class Pattern(Serialize):
+    raw = None
 
     def __init__(self, value, flags=(), raw=None):
         self.value = value
diff --git a/tests/__main__.py b/tests/__main__.py
index b779457..b8d3971 100644
--- a/tests/__main__.py
+++ b/tests/__main__.py
@@ -10,6 +10,7 @@ from .test_cache import TestCache
 from .test_grammar import TestGrammar
 from .test_reconstructor import TestReconstructor
 from .test_tree_forest_transformer import TestTreeForestTransformer
+from .test_lexer import TestLexer
 
 try:
     from .test_nearley.test_nearley import TestNearley
diff --git a/tests/test_lexer.py b/tests/test_lexer.py
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..411ef94
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tests/test_lexer.py
@@ -0,0 +1,23 @@
+from unittest import TestCase, main
+
+from lark import Lark, Tree
+
+class TestLexer(TestCase):
+    def setUp(self):
+        pass
+
+    def test_basic(self):
+        p = Lark("""
+            start: "a" "b" "c" "d"
+            %ignore " "
+        """)
+
+        res = list(p.lex("abc cba dd"))
+        assert res == list('abccbadd')
+
+        res = list(p.lex("abc cba dd", dont_ignore=True))
+        assert res == list('abc cba dd')
+
+
+if __name__ == '__main__':
+    main()
\ No newline at end of file