Prevent FocusGained autocmd running in command line editing mode

Question

I have the following in my vimrc to automatically reload a buffer:

" Triger `autoread` when files changes on disk
" https://unix.stackexchange.com/a/383044/143394
autocmd FocusGained,BufEnter,CursorHold,CursorHoldI * checktime

The problem is if I'm in command-line mode (ie, after typing : in normal mode), and I change focus away from, the back to vim I get:

Error detected while processing FocusGained Auto commands for "*":
E523: Not allowed here: checktime

How can I prevent this autocmd running if I'm in command-line mode at the time?

Is there a flag set when entering commandline mode? Perhaps an autocmd could set one?

Answer 1

You can use this:

autocmd! FocusGained,BufEnter,CursorHold,CursorHoldI * if mode() != 'c' | checktime | endif

The mode() function allows you to test the current mode (see :h mode() for a list of the possible returned values), in command mode it will return c.

With this command, you can add a check to disallow the execution of your autocommand when you are in command mode you should be fine.

Answer 2

After checking out the modes in :h mode(), I use:

augroup auto_checktime
  autocmd!
  " Notify if file is changed outside of vim
  " Trigger `checktime` when files changes on disk
  " https://unix.stackexchange.com/questions/149209/refresh-changed-content-of-file-opened-in-vim/383044#383044
  " https://vi.stackexchange.com/questions/13692/prevent-focusgained-autocmd-running-in-command-line-editing-mode
  autocmd FocusGained,BufEnter,CursorHold,CursorHoldI *
          \ if mode() !~ '\v(c|r.?|!|t)' && getcmdwintype() == '' | checktime | endif
augroup END