When CGDB is invoked, the interface is in GDB mode. A ‘*’ at the right of the status bar indicates that input will be passed to GDB. To change the focus to the source window, hit the <ESC> key. The cgdb mode key is the key that is responsible for switching the user into CGDB mode from a different mode. The cgdb mode key is defaulted to the <ESC> key. To change this value, look at the configuration options for CGDB. See Configuring CGDB.
The interface is now in CGDB mode. To switch back into GDB mode, press i. This syntax is based on the popular Unix text-editor, vi.