Vimscript check if current buffer has unsaved chan

Question

I currently have my status line set up so that it's orange in insert mode and white otherwise. I'd like to make it go another color when I drop back to normal mode if the file has any unsaved changes, as I regularly take a little walk down a rabbit hole wondering why my changes have not taken effect. The little "[+]" doesn't smack me in the face enough ;)

I can't find any functions that start with "buf" and look like predicates for dirtiness though. I assume one exists, but is named something else. I expect there to be something like bufdirty() or bufchanged(). Any pointers? :)

Answer 1

I like the idea of using the statusline color to indicate the buffer state. In fact, I've written the StatusLineHighlight plugin, which indicates the following attributes: modified, readonly, unmodifiable, special non-file "scratch" (but not the insert mode that you're using; for that, I find Vim's mode indication in the lower left corner enough).

Answer 2

I think that you are looking for

:echo &mod[ified]

which returns 1 if modified and 0 if not modified.