I would like to change VIM's (not gVIM's) cursor depending on what mode I am currently in. I would like:

  • Normal & Visual modes = block cursor
  • Insert & Command modes = I beam cursor

I tried adding the following code to .vimrc but it did not work. 

if has("autocmd")
  au InsertEnter * silent execute "!gconftool-2 --type string --set /apps/gnome-terminal/profiles/Default/cursor_shape ibeam"
  au InsertLeave * silent execute "!gconftool-2 --type string --set /apps/gnome-terminal/profiles/Default/cursor_shape block"
  au VimLeave * silent execute "!gconftool-2 --type string --set /apps/gnome-terminal/profiles/Default/cursor_shape ibeam"
endif

I got that bit of code from http://vim.wikia.com/wiki/Change_cursor_shape_in_different_modes but it says that it is for Gnome-Terminal (version 2.26) and I have Gnome-Terminal (version 3.60). Not sure if that is the reason why it's not working.

Any ideas on how to do this?

vim gnome-terminal text-cursor
Edit
Report