Importing functions, variables from another file

Question

I am trying to spread up some functions across files to make it a bit more manageable (and also to see how that works. So far I have three dummy variables/functions in one file:

# second.vim
let newer = "as"
let s:older = "by" " note: this variable will not be imported if source'd
func LogOutput1(msg, level=g:log_level_default)
    " ...
endfunc

# vimrc
source second.vim

As far as I'm able to understand, it seems that running the source will import all 'global' items from second.vim, so that it will import:

• newer <-- yes, global variable
• s:older <-- no, script-local
• LogOutput1 <-- yes, 'global' (?) function

Is this accurate? What is the proper way to do imports, or is the above adequate?

Answer 1

Nowadays (since vim7), we don't need :source any more -- except for reloading plugins while maintaining them

Distribute your scripts within

• {rtp}/plugin/ -- always loaded once after .vimrc
• {rtp}/ftplugin/ -- always loaded once per buffer with a matching filetype
• {rtp}/autoload/ -- lazily loaded, perfect for library plugin

Every thing is automatic. See this old Q/A on SU (that should be moved here if somebody knows how it's done)