Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!cs.utexas.edu!uunet!microsoft!nancym
From: nancym@microsoft.UUCP (Nancy McGough)
Newsgroups: comp.editors
Subject: Re: vi cursor mapping?
Message-ID: <54052@microsoft.UUCP>
Date: 12 Apr 90 01:49:16 GMT
References: <5841.261a0aba@vax1.tcd.ie>
Reply-To: nancym@microsoft.UUCP (Nancy McGough)
Organization: Microsoft Corp., Redmond WA
Lines: 20

In article <5841.261a0aba@vax1.tcd.ie> ghawkins@vax1.tcd.ie writes:
>is it possible to write a mapping or such like to write something at the bottom
>of the screen, e.g. when you press escape it'd say "press i or a to start
>typing again"!

If your .exrc file contains the line:

set showmode

then one of the following modes will be displayed in the lower right 
corner of your screen: INPUT MODE, REPLACE MODE, REPLACE 1 CHAR -- there
are probably some others that I don't know about.  When you are in 
command mode nothing is displayed.

I'm not sure if this feature is supported by all versions of vi...  I
just searched the vi man pages for "showmode" and it's not in there.
Hope it works for you.  It's really a great way to know what mode
you're in!

Nancy