Vim startup commands

February 21st, 2026

As well as files to open, you can pass startup commands to Vim (or Neovim) using these options:

Usage:
  nvim [options] [file ...]

Options:
  --cmd <cmd>           Execute <cmd> before any config
  +<cmd>, -c <cmd>      Execute <cmd> after config and first file

For example, to open my todo.txt file, I run nvim +'normal Gzz' todo.txt to open the file, switch to normal mode, go to the bottom of the file and vertically centre the text - ready for me to work on my tasks.