Using the vim split command from the command line to get 4 quarter splits
Solution 1:
You can use the 'wincmd' command to move to different windows as if you're pressing CTRL+W.
vim file4 -c 'split file2' -c 'vsplit file1' -c 'wincmd j' -c 'vsplit file3'
This will arrange the files as:
file1 file2
file3 file4
How it works: opens file4. Splits horizontally so file2 is above it. Splits vertically so file1 is to the left, moves to the next window (file1) and vertically splits again.
Solution 2:
I wrote a script using this information that automatically splits the screen as I wish:
vimsp.py file1 file2 / file3
Results in
-----------
|f1 |f2 |
| | |
-----------
|file 3 |
| |
-----------
Also, putting / in front of all files makes them all split vertically instead:
vimsp.py / file1 file2 file3
-------------
|file 1 |
-------------
|file 2 |
-------------
|file 3 |
-------------
https://gist.github.com/1376956