Swap iTerm2 cursors in vim insert mode when using tmux

.vimrc

" tmux will only forward escape sequences to the terminal if surrounded by a DCS sequence
" http://sourceforge.net/mailarchive/forum.php?thread_name=AANLkTinkbdoZ8eNR1X2UobLTeww1jFrvfJxTMfKSq-L%2B%40mail.gmail.com&forum_name=tmux-users

if exists('$TMUX')
  let &t_SI = "\<Esc>Ptmux;\<Esc>\<Esc>]50;CursorShape=1\x7\<Esc>\\"
  let &t_EI = "\<Esc>Ptmux;\<Esc>\<Esc>]50;CursorShape=0\x7\<Esc>\\"
else
  let &t_SI = "\<Esc>]50;CursorShape=1\x7"
  let &t_EI = "\<Esc>]50;CursorShape=0\x7"
endif

thanks a lot!

@AdamBrodzinski: tmux has a delay for escape sequences. Try set-option -g escape-time 0.

urxvt

/~.vimrc

" Changing cursor shape per mode
" 1 or 0 -> blinking block
" 2 -> solid block
" 3 -> blinking underscore
" 4 -> solid underscore
if exists('$TMUX')
    " tmux will only forward escape sequences to the terminal if surrounded by a DCS sequence
    let &t_SI .= "\<Esc>Ptmux;\<Esc>\<Esc>[4 q\<Esc>\\"
    let &t_EI .= "\<Esc>Ptmux;\<Esc>\<Esc>[2 q\<Esc>\\"
    autocmd VimLeave * silent !echo -ne "\033Ptmux;\033\033[0 q\033\\"
else
    let &t_SI .= "\<Esc>[4 q"
    let &t_EI .= "\<Esc>[2 q"
    autocmd VimLeave * silent !echo -ne "\033[0 q"
endif

~/.tmux.conf

set-option -sg escape-time 30

fwiw the much better way to do this is use tmux's terminal overrides to send the cursor changes on a per pane basis rather than for the entire terminal. It's a little bit more complicated, but it works much better:

This assumes tmux 1.9+, some things changed recently.

In your tmux.conf (explanation, but for older tmux)

set-option -g terminal-overrides '*88col*:colors=88,*256col*:colors=256,xterm*:XT:Ms=\E]52;%p1%s;%p2%s\007:Cs=\E]12;%p1%s\007:Cr=\E]112\007:Ss=\E]50;CursorShape=%?%p1%{3}%<%t%{0}%e%p1%{2}%-%;%d\007'

And in .vimrc:

if exists('$ITERM_PROFILE')
  if exists('$TMUX')
    let &t_SI = "\<Esc>[3 q"
    let &t_EI = "\<Esc>[0 q"
  else
    let &t_SI = "\<Esc>]50;CursorShape=1\x7"
    let &t_EI = "\<Esc>]50;CursorShape=0\x7"
  endif
end

@aaronjensen I just checked your explanation and wondered whether it would not have been possible to use the parameter directly (without if then else). So basically use something like \E]50;CursorShape=%p1%d\007 combined with:

let &t_SI = "\<Esc>[1 q"
let &t_SI = "\<Esc>[0 q"

Is there any good tutorial/documentation of this? The terminfo manpage is not great to understand what's going on...

@sblask, I just saw this and tried it out. It didn't work, but I may have done something wrong, though I vaguely remember having tried it in the past. TBH that whole thing is such a dark magic incantation that I did so long ago I'd just assume not touch it while it works 😉 The other problem w/ going [1 and [0 directly is that [3 and [0 actually work w/o the terminfo override, it's just a block and an underscore which is better than nothing.

This works for both setting cursor colour and style per window/pane:

set -g terminal-overrides '*88col*:colors=88,*256col*:colors=256,xterm*:XT:Cs=\E]Pl%p1%s\E\\:Ss=\E]50;CursorShape=%d\007'

for setting cursor color:

printf '\033]12;%s\007' "rrggbb"

for setting cursor style:

printf '\033[%s q' "n"

rrggbb is 2-digit hex triplet specifying an RGB value, and n is digit 0, 1 or 2 (block, vertical bar, underline)

This seemed to be a fairly common woe and it took me much too long to figure it out on my own, so I documented the problems and solutions with changing cursor color and style:

http://ass.kameli.org/cursor_tricks.html

@caipre, this didn't work for me:

@AdamBrodzinski: tmux has a delay for escape sequences. Try set-option -g escape-time 0.

@AdamBrodzinski, did you figure it out?

Thanks.

Exactly what I was looking for! Thank you for you help!

This awesome plugin handles cursor shapes in different situations

Adding this to my ~/.zshrc (or ~/.bashrc) fixed it using iterm (I'm not using tmux, also, I'm using neovim):

# Preserve Insert Cursor shape in nvim using iterm
export NVIM_TUI_ENABLE_CURSOR_SHAPE=1

+1 on using vim-togglecursor. Worked perfectly.

+1 to NVIM_TUI_ENABLE_CURSOR_SHAPE - just add it to your ~/.config/nvim/init.vim like so:

:let $NVIM_TUI_ENABLE_CURSOR_SHAPE=1

Wondering if the same thing can be achieved in ZSH...

I have something working in zsh/iterm, but not in tmux:

function zle-keymap-select zle-line-init
{
    case $KEYMAP in
        vicmd) # block cursor
            print -n -- "\E]50;CursorShape=0\C-G"
            ;;
        viins|main) # line cursor
            print -n -- "\E]50;CursorShape=1\C-G"
            fi
            ;;
    esac
    zle reset-prompt
    zle -R
}
function zle-line-finish
{
    print -n -- "\E]50;CursorShape=0\C-G"
}
zle -N zle-line-init
zle -N zle-line-finish
zle -N zle-keymap-select

Any help getting the above working in TMUX/ZSH would be greatly appreciated.

@breerly here's an adapted copy of your functions that work under tmux using the DCS escape mentioned by OP: https://github.com/jcorbin/home/blob/master/.zsh/rc.d/vi-mode-cursor

@jcorbin looks like it works, I'll try it on for awhile 👍

@breerly here's an adapted copy of your functions that work under tmux using the DCS escape mentioned by OP: https://github.com/jcorbin/home/blob/master/.zsh/rc.d/vi-mode-cursor

@jcorbin ^ works on osx w/ zshell + tmux! thanks a lot! 👍

@jcorbin I spoke too soon: it works well until you open up another pane. Switching between the two means that the cursor get's carried along, even if the pane you're switching to is in command mode. This leads to situations where you get the block cursor but you're actually in insert mode, and vice versa.

@silesky, were you able to find a workaround for pane switching?

Thanks @jcorbin

thanks

Thanks!

How can I get this working in the case of running ssh and opening vim on a remote machine from within a local tmux session?

https://stackoverflow.com/questions/42377945/vim-adding-cursorshape-support-over-tmux-ssh

@AdamBrodzinski
Try adding this line to your .vimrc to get rid of the delay while switching between normal mode and insert mode

set timeoutlen=1000 ttimeoutlen=0

Thanks!

We should all get together for a drink some day.

Thanks!

A note if you are using tmux with a custom term-info (like many tutorials in the internet instructs you to have something like - italic in vim)
This is what you want inside your tmux.conf (assuming using iterm2 + tmux)

set -g default-terminal 'tmux-256color' # replace this with your custom term-info name
set -ga terminal-overrides ',*:Tc' # this is for 256 color
set -ga terminal-overrides '*:Ss=\E[%p1%d q:Se=\E[ q' # this is for the cursor shape

won't work for tmux 2.6 and terminator