Commit: patch 9.2.0238: showmode message may not be displayed

[Christian Brabandt]

patch 9.2.0238: showmode message may not be displayed

Commit: https://github.com/vim/vim/commit/9a2260d6cfa1053bdfd8b7febdfdbee1ebf17d12
Author: Hirohito Higashi <h.eas...@gmail.com>
Date: Tue Mar 24 20:06:05 2026 +0000

patch 9.2.0238: showmode message may not be displayed

Problem: showmode message may not be displayed (Yee Cheng Chin)
Solution: Don't call char_avail() in skip_showmode(), but check
for anything in the stuff and typeahead buffer
(Hirohito Higashi).

Fix "-- VISUAL --" not shown when terminal responses are pending

When starting Vim with a script that enters Visual mode (e.g.
"vim -S script.vim"), the "-- VISUAL --" mode message sometimes
doesn't appear. This happens because skip_showmode() calls
char_avail(), which reads raw terminal input and picks up terminal
response escape sequences (e.g. t_RV response). Combined with
!KeyTyped (which is TRUE after script execution), this causes
skip_showmode() to return TRUE, preventing the mode from being
displayed.

Fix this by checking only the stuff buffer and typeahead buffer for
pending characters, instead of char_avail() which also reads raw
terminal input. This way, terminal response sequences no longer
interfere with mode display.

fixes: #16620
closes: #19801

Co-authored-by: Claude Opus 4.6 (1M context) <nor...@anthropic.com>
Co-authored-by: Christian Brabandt <c...@256bit.org>
Signed-off-by: Hirohito Higashi <h.eas...@gmail.com>
Signed-off-by: Christian Brabandt <c...@256bit.org>

diff --git a/src/screen.c b/src/screen.c
index fa3b3860f..78927c163 100644
--- a/src/screen.c
+++ b/src/screen.c
@@ -4417,17 +4417,20 @@ screen_del_lines(

/*
* Return TRUE when postponing displaying the mode message: when not redrawing
- * or inside a mapping.
+ * or inside a mapping or a script.
*/
int
skip_showmode(void)
{
- // Call char_avail() only when we are going to show something, because it
- // takes a bit of time. redrawing() may also call char_avail().
+ // Check the stuff buffer, typeahead buffer and script input for pending
+ // characters, instead of char_avail() which also reads raw terminal input
+ // and may pick up terminal response sequences (e.g. t_RV response),
+ // falsely preventing the mode from being shown.
if (global_busy
|| msg_silent != 0
|| !redrawing()
- || (char_avail() && !KeyTyped))
+ || ((!stuff_empty() || typebuf.tb_len > 0 || using_script())
+ && !KeyTyped))
{
redraw_mode = TRUE; // show mode later
return TRUE;
diff --git a/src/version.c b/src/version.c
index 412a37bb0..67feb77dd 100644
--- a/src/version.c
+++ b/src/version.c
@@ -734,6 +734,8 @@ static char *(features[]) =

static int included_patches[] =
{ /* Add new patch number below this line */
+/**/
+ 238,
/**/
237,
/**/