diff --git a/DESCRIPTION b/DESCRIPTION
index 4fe70c3c..8806ca54 100644
--- a/DESCRIPTION
+++ b/DESCRIPTION
@@ -54,3 +54,4 @@ Collate:
     'url-query.r'
     'http-patch.r'
     'user-agent.r'
+    'upload-file.r'
diff --git a/NAMESPACE b/NAMESPACE
index 8cfc0640..445b3a02 100644
--- a/NAMESPACE
+++ b/NAMESPACE
@@ -29,6 +29,7 @@ export(set_cookies)
 export(stop_for_status)
 export(text_content)
 export(timeout)
+export(upload_file)
 export(use_proxy)
 export(user_agent)
 export(verbose)
diff --git a/R/http-post.r b/R/http-post.r
index ea3153d3..e431e11a 100644
--- a/R/http-post.r
+++ b/R/http-post.r
@@ -17,14 +17,12 @@
 #' POST(b)
 #' POST(b, body = "A simple text string")
 #' POST(b, body = list(a = 1, b = 2, c = 3))
-#'
-#' library(RCurl)
-#' POST(b, body = list(a = 1, file = fileUpload(system.file("CITATION"))))
+#' POST(b, body = list(a = 1, file = upload_file(system.file("CITATION"))))
 #'
 #' b2 <- "http://httpbin.org/post"
 #' POST(b2, body = "A simple text string")
 #' POST(b2, body = list(x = "A simple text string"))
-#' POST(b2, body = list(y = fileUpload(system.file("CITATION"))))
+#' POST(b2, body = list(y = upload_file(system.file("CITATION"))))
 POST <- function(url = NULL, config = list(), body = NULL, multipart = TRUE, ..., handle = NULL) {
   hu <- handle_url(handle, url, ...)
   make_request("post", hu$handle, hu$url, body = body, 
diff --git a/R/http-put.r b/R/http-put.r
index aff8bd3c..90529c63 100644
--- a/R/http-put.r
+++ b/R/http-put.r
@@ -12,8 +12,7 @@
 #' b2 <- "http://httpbin.org/put"
 #' PUT(b2, body = "A simple text string")
 #' PUT(b2, body = list(x = "A simple text string"))
-#' library(RCurl)
-#' PUT(b2, body = list(y = fileUpload(system.file("CITATION"))))
+#' PUT(b2, body = list(y = upload_file(system.file("CITATION"))))
 PUT <- function(url = NULL, config = list(), body = NULL, multipart = TRUE, ..., handle = NULL) {
   hu <- handle_url(handle, url, ...)
   make_request("put", hu$handle, hu$url, body = body, 
diff --git a/R/upload-file.r b/R/upload-file.r
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..acb2c9ea
--- /dev/null
+++ b/R/upload-file.r
@@ -0,0 +1,13 @@
+#' Upload a file with \code{\link{POST}} or \code{\link{PUT}}.
+#' 
+#' This is a tiny wrapper for \pkg{RCurl}'s \code{\link[RCurl]{fileUpload}}.
+#' 
+#' @param x path to file
+#' @export
+#' @examples
+#' POST("http://httpbin.org/post", 
+#'   body = list(y = upload_file(system.file("CITATION"))))
+upload_file <- function(path) {
+  stopifnot(is.character(path), length(path) == 1)
+  fileUpload(path)
+}
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/inst/tests/test-PUT-POST.r b/inst/tests/test-PUT-POST.r
index d6440748..5328f3ff 100644
--- a/inst/tests/test-PUT-POST.r
+++ b/inst/tests/test-PUT-POST.r
@@ -7,7 +7,7 @@ round_trip <- function(method, body = NULL, ...) {
 }
 methods <- c("POST", "PUT")
 
-citation <- fileUpload(system.file("CITATION"))
+citation <- upload_file(system.file("CITATION"))
 citation_val <- c(readLines(system.file("CITATION")), "")
 
 test_that("empty body gives empty data element", {
diff --git a/man/POST.Rd b/man/POST.Rd
index 061e8e68..b92ac9de 100644
--- a/man/POST.Rd
+++ b/man/POST.Rd
@@ -49,13 +49,11 @@ b <- new_bin()
 POST(b)
 POST(b, body = "A simple text string")
 POST(b, body = list(a = 1, b = 2, c = 3))
-
-library(RCurl)
-POST(b, body = list(a = 1, file = fileUpload(system.file("CITATION"))))
+POST(b, body = list(a = 1, file = upload_file(system.file("CITATION"))))
 
 b2 <- "http://httpbin.org/post"
 POST(b2, body = "A simple text string")
 POST(b2, body = list(x = "A simple text string"))
-POST(b2, body = list(y = fileUpload(system.file("CITATION"))))
+POST(b2, body = list(y = upload_file(system.file("CITATION"))))
 }
 
diff --git a/man/PUT.Rd b/man/PUT.Rd
index 8ff3407b..d4a42b9c 100644
--- a/man/PUT.Rd
+++ b/man/PUT.Rd
@@ -54,7 +54,6 @@ PUT("http://httpbin.org/put")
 b2 <- "http://httpbin.org/put"
 PUT(b2, body = "A simple text string")
 PUT(b2, body = list(x = "A simple text string"))
-library(RCurl)
-PUT(b2, body = list(y = fileUpload(system.file("CITATION"))))
+PUT(b2, body = list(y = upload_file(system.file("CITATION"))))
 }
 
diff --git a/man/upload_file.Rd b/man/upload_file.Rd
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..24be0678
--- /dev/null
+++ b/man/upload_file.Rd
@@ -0,0 +1,18 @@
+\name{upload_file}
+\alias{upload_file}
+\title{Upload a file with \code{\link{POST}} or \code{\link{PUT}}.}
+\usage{
+  upload_file(path)
+}
+\arguments{
+  \item{x}{path to file}
+}
+\description{
+  This is a tiny wrapper for \pkg{RCurl}'s
+  \code{\link[RCurl]{fileUpload}}.
+}
+\examples{
+POST("http://httpbin.org/post",
+  body = list(y = upload_file(system.file("CITATION"))))
+}
+