How to get the current mode in vim?

Question

I'm writting scripts for vim, and I want to let the script do different things in different mode. I know that the statusline will show the current mode, but I don't know how to get the exact current mode and store it in variables. For example, when I enter the visual-line mode, can I get the current mode from some system variables of vim and distinct the mode from other visual mode?

Answer 1

You are looking for the function mode(), see :h mode():

mode([expr])    Return a string that indicates the current mode.
        If [expr] is supplied and it evaluates to a non-zero Number or
        a non-empty String (|non-zero-arg|), then the full mode is
        returned, otherwise only the first letter is returned.

            n   Normal
            no  Operator-pending
            v   Visual by character
            V   Visual by line
            CTRL-V  Visual blockwise
            s   Select by character
            S   Select by line
            CTRL-S  Select blockwise
            i   Insert
            ic  Insert mode completion |compl-generic|
            ix  Insert mode |i_CTRL-X| completion
            R   Replace |R|
            Rc  Replace mode completion |compl-generic|
            Rv  Virtual Replace |gR|
            Rx  Replace mode |i_CTRL-X| completion
            c   Command-line editing
            cv  Vim Ex mode |gQ|
            ce  Normal Ex mode |Q|
            r   Hit-enter prompt
            rm  The -- more -- prompt
            r?  A |:confirm| query of some sort
            !   Shell or external command is executing
            t   Terminal mode: keys go to the job

So all you need to do is:

let currentMode = mode()