diff --git a/contrib/nvi/vi/vs_relative.c b/contrib/nvi/vi/vs_relative.c
index c92c10c43e2e..878fc4f944ad 100644
--- a/contrib/nvi/vi/vs_relative.c
+++ b/contrib/nvi/vi/vs_relative.c
@@ -111,6 +111,15 @@ vs_columns(sp, lp, lno, cnop, diffp)
 	int ch, leftright, listset;
 	char *p;
 
+	/*
+	 * Initialize the screen offset.
+	 */
+	scno = 0;
+
+	/* Leading number if O_NUMBER option set. */
+	if (O_ISSET(sp, O_NUMBER))
+		scno += O_NUMBER_LENGTH;
+
 	/* Need the line to go any further. */
 	if (lp == NULL) {
 		(void)db_get(sp, lno, 0, &lp, &len);
@@ -122,7 +131,7 @@ vs_columns(sp, lp, lno, cnop, diffp)
 	if (lp == NULL) {
 done:		if (diffp != NULL)		/* XXX */
 			*diffp = 0;
-		return (0);
+		return scno;
 	}
 
 	/* Store away the values of the list and leftright edit options. */
@@ -130,15 +139,10 @@ done:		if (diffp != NULL)		/* XXX */
 	leftright = O_ISSET(sp, O_LEFTRIGHT);
 
 	/*
-	 * Initialize the pointer into the buffer and screen and current
-	 * offsets.
+	 * Initialize the pointer into the buffer and current offset.
 	 */
 	p = lp;
-	curoff = scno = 0;
-
-	/* Leading number if O_NUMBER option set. */
-	if (O_ISSET(sp, O_NUMBER))
-		scno += O_NUMBER_LENGTH;
+	curoff = 0;
 
 	/* Macro to return the display length of any signal character. */
 #define	CHLEN(val) (ch = *(u_char *)p++) == '\t' &&			\