The QuakeForge servers (nq-server, qw-server, and qtv), and clients (nq-x11, nq-sdl, qw-client-x11, qw-client-sdl etc) all parse the program command line looking for console commands.

Console commands on the command line are marked with a + that follows whitespace. They continue until the next + or - that follows whitespace. This allows commands and arguments to contain + and - so long as the preceeding character is not whitespace, but also prevents command line switches (eg -nosound) from becoming part of the console command. Using careful quoting, it is even possible for a command or argument to beging with + or -.

The following command line will fail to set m_pitch because the -0.022 will not be part of the console command. usage: setrom <cvar> <value> will be displayed instead.

nq-x11 +setrom m_pitch -0.022

The following command line will successfully set m_pitch to -0.022 because QuakeForge will see the quotation mark before the - and thus -0.022 will be part of the console command.

nq-x11 +setrom m_pitch \"-0.022\"

Note: The above works in bash. Other shells may vary.