Why is :execute required in this --remote-silent command?

Question

Let's say I want to jump to a particular position in a file in an existing Vim server:

This command jumps to the correct line, but not the correct column, leaving the cursor at the start of the line:

gvim.exe --servername VimServer --remote-silent +"normal! 5G5|"

If I add in an :execute, however, the command works as desired:

gvim.exe --servername VimServer --remote-silent +"execute 'normal! 5G5|'"

Note that removing the 5G line movement does not affect the issue. normal! 5| jumps to the start of the current line. execute 'normal! 5|' jumps to the fifth column.

I also tried a few other motions. These will all leave the cursor at the start of the (correct) line unless run with :execute:

normal! w
normal! l
normal! j
normal! )
normal! %

What's going on?

Answer 1

I haven't looked deeply into it, but reading :help --remote, it mentions this about +{cmd}:

This must be an Ex command that can be followed by "|".

Your :normal interprets the remainder as normal mode commands; you'd need a :{cmd} to execute {cmd} as an Ex command. By wrapping this in :execute, only the quoted string is executed, and the normal mode initiated by :normal ends after that, and additional Ex commands can follow after a |, as requested.