BusyBox v1.17.2 (2011-05-01 08:45:38 GMT-8) These work: vi -c"set noshowmatch" -c"set tabstop=2" vi -c"set tabstop=2" -c"set noshowmatch" vi -c "set tabstop=2 noshowmatch" This will change noshowmatch but NOT change the tabstop=2: vi -c "set noshowmatch tabstop=2"