How to source .vimrc inside a function in .vimrc?

Question

This is part of my vimrc--

function! Abbreviations()
    let a:code=input("Which Abbreviation: ")

    "gen
    if(a:code=="gen")
    source ~/.vim/Abbreviations/GeneralAbbreviations.vim
    endif

    "math
    if(a:code=="math")
    source ~/.vim/Abbreviations/MathAbbreviations.vim
    endif
endfunction


function! SourceAbbreviations()
    :execute ":normal! :source $MYVIMRC\<cr>:call Abbreviations()\<cr>gen\<cr>:call Abbreviations()\<cr>math\<cr>"
endfunction

nnoremap <buffer> <localleader>e :call SourceAbbreviations()<cr>

As you can see the function SourceAbbreviations() has to call other functions. When I do :call SourceAbbreviations() it shows an error. However, if I remove :source $MYVIMRC\<cr> from the function SourceAbbreviations(), it works. So, what's actually wrong in this case?

Answer 1

I would advise you to do the following:

First change the function Abbreviations() to accept an argument and maybe not use the interactive mode:

function! Abbreviations(code)
  if a:code != 'gen' && a:code != 'math'
    let l:code = input("Which Abbreviation: ")
  else
    let l:code = a:code
  endif
  if l:code == "gen"
    source ~/.vim/Abbreviations/GeneralAbbreviations.vim
  endif
  if l:code == "math"
    source ~/.vim/Abbreviations/MathAbbreviations.vim
  endif
endfunction

Now you can :call Abbreviations("gen") or :call Abbreviations("math") or :call Abbreviations("") to get the old behaviour.

Second simplify the function SourceAbbreviations() like so

function! SourceAbbreviations()
  execute "source" $MYVIMRC
  call Abbreviations("gen")
  call Abbreviations("math")
endfunction

But if you are really keen on using your complex :execute command you should take $MYVIMRC out of the string as this is vimscript and not shell. So write

:execute ":normal! :source " . $MYVIMRC . "\<cr>:call Abbreviations()\<cr>gen\<cr>:call Abbreviations()\<cr>math\<cr>"

In order to understand this compare these two

echo $MYVIMRC
echo "$MYVIMRC"