vi - Is there a ruler line function?

[Doug Gwyn]

In article <123 at graffiti.UUCP> bruce at graffiti.UUCP (Bruce Jilek) writes:
>I have used editors in the past that allow you to type a command and
>get a ruler line at the current position within the document you are editing.
>For example:
>
>         1         2         3         4         5         6         7         8
>12345678901234567890123456789012345678901234567890123456789012345678901234567890
>
>This can be very helpful for lining up statements for readable blocks that 
>have extended beyond the bottom of the screen, etc.  It used to even be a 
>requirement if you were coding in FORTRAN and/or COBOL.  
>
>Doesn't vi have this capability?  I can't find it in the documentation.

Since one can read in a ruler (stored in a separate file) whenever
it is needed, why clutter vi with this as a built-in capability?