diff --git a/docs/examples/cacertinmem.c b/docs/examples/cacertinmem.c
index b660c0d878df7363812b00fd78e25c7d1e14228c..30a5153a84965af377ef1539683182a3248bc325 100644
--- a/docs/examples/cacertinmem.c
+++ b/docs/examples/cacertinmem.c
@@ -125,7 +125,7 @@ int main(void)
   rv=curl_easy_setopt(ch,CURLOPT_WRITEFUNCTION, *writefunction);
   rv=curl_easy_setopt(ch,CURLOPT_WRITEDATA, stdout);
   rv=curl_easy_setopt(ch,CURLOPT_HEADERFUNCTION, *writefunction);
-  rv=curl_easy_setopt(ch,CURLOPT_WRITEHEADER, stderr);
+  rv=curl_easy_setopt(ch,CURLOPT_HEADERDATA, stderr);
   rv=curl_easy_setopt(ch,CURLOPT_SSLCERTTYPE,"PEM");
   rv=curl_easy_setopt(ch,CURLOPT_SSL_VERIFYPEER,1L);
   rv=curl_easy_setopt(ch, CURLOPT_URL, "https://www.example.com/");
diff --git a/docs/examples/ftpgetresp.c b/docs/examples/ftpgetresp.c
index db96a3a13b2540b6b7333f7c4757f0dc255f0c8b..dcb296adf142ec94f52b02e3fa1d7a0e730a6525 100644
--- a/docs/examples/ftpgetresp.c
+++ b/docs/examples/ftpgetresp.c
@@ -58,7 +58,7 @@ int main(void)
     /* If you intend to use this on windows with a libcurl DLL, you must use
        CURLOPT_WRITEFUNCTION as well */
     curl_easy_setopt(curl, CURLOPT_HEADERFUNCTION, write_response);
-    curl_easy_setopt(curl, CURLOPT_WRITEHEADER, respfile);
+    curl_easy_setopt(curl, CURLOPT_HEADERDATA, respfile);
     res = curl_easy_perform(curl);
     /* Check for errors */
     if(res != CURLE_OK)
diff --git a/docs/examples/rtsp.c b/docs/examples/rtsp.c
index 669780a9bc089c6701f621792ec95698f25ed22d..fed343dfd6db971cc0802093f302feaa2d5fb4e9 100644
--- a/docs/examples/rtsp.c
+++ b/docs/examples/rtsp.c
@@ -224,7 +224,7 @@ int main(int argc, char * const argv[])
       if (curl != NULL) {
         my_curl_easy_setopt(curl, CURLOPT_VERBOSE, 0L);
         my_curl_easy_setopt(curl, CURLOPT_NOPROGRESS, 1L);
-        my_curl_easy_setopt(curl, CURLOPT_WRITEHEADER, stdout);
+        my_curl_easy_setopt(curl, CURLOPT_HEADERDATA, stdout);
         my_curl_easy_setopt(curl, CURLOPT_URL, url);
 
         /* request server options */
diff --git a/docs/examples/sepheaders.c b/docs/examples/sepheaders.c
index d944ab99d64153b9790d4122e4e1d387d2b3c423..63ea99391e3410abb29755aad436ba00e7e9502f 100644
--- a/docs/examples/sepheaders.c
+++ b/docs/examples/sepheaders.c
@@ -66,7 +66,7 @@ int main(void)
   }
 
   /* we want the headers be written to this file handle */
-  curl_easy_setopt(curl_handle,   CURLOPT_WRITEHEADER, headerfile);
+  curl_easy_setopt(curl_handle,   CURLOPT_HEADERDATA, headerfile);
 
   /* we want the body be written to this file handle instead of stdout */
   curl_easy_setopt(curl_handle,   CURLOPT_WRITEDATA, bodyfile);
diff --git a/docs/examples/simplessl.c b/docs/examples/simplessl.c
index 74c58461a6dfefc51afa4763fce5bc33b2257621..aefb79f624221944e566282d05a73b63e45f5056 100644
--- a/docs/examples/simplessl.c
+++ b/docs/examples/simplessl.c
@@ -75,7 +75,7 @@ int main(void)
   if(curl) {
     /* what call to write: */
     curl_easy_setopt(curl, CURLOPT_URL, "HTTPS://your.favourite.ssl.site");
-    curl_easy_setopt(curl, CURLOPT_WRITEHEADER, headerfile);
+    curl_easy_setopt(curl, CURLOPT_HEADERDATA, headerfile);
 
     for(i = 0; i < 1; i++) /* single-iteration loop, just to break out from */
     {
diff --git a/docs/examples/url2file.c b/docs/examples/url2file.c
index 64d27c88f2e0b939922755e1d9c596d8d6eae47c..adf696c9a10bd31c9a5618f63fb79aed14d594ae 100644
--- a/docs/examples/url2file.c
+++ b/docs/examples/url2file.c
@@ -63,9 +63,8 @@ int main(int argc, char *argv[])
   pagefile = fopen(pagefilename, "wb");
   if (pagefile) {
 
-    /* write the page body to this file handle. CURLOPT_FILE is also known as
-       CURLOPT_WRITEDATA*/
-    curl_easy_setopt(curl_handle, CURLOPT_FILE, pagefile);
+    /* write the page body to this file handle */
+    curl_easy_setopt(curl_handle, CURLOPT_WRITEDATA, pagefile);
 
     /* get it! */
     curl_easy_perform(curl_handle);
diff --git a/docs/examples/usercertinmem.c b/docs/examples/usercertinmem.c
index 36c1c9064c0a0e3bb2bf4b57b7aa3996836d5194..dd56c6167e17a575d147c0b8876de0dc7de870d6 100644
--- a/docs/examples/usercertinmem.c
+++ b/docs/examples/usercertinmem.c
@@ -184,7 +184,7 @@ int main(void)
   rv = curl_easy_setopt(ch,CURLOPT_WRITEFUNCTION, *writefunction);
   rv = curl_easy_setopt(ch,CURLOPT_WRITEDATA, stdout);
   rv = curl_easy_setopt(ch,CURLOPT_HEADERFUNCTION, *writefunction);
-  rv = curl_easy_setopt(ch,CURLOPT_WRITEHEADER, stderr);
+  rv = curl_easy_setopt(ch,CURLOPT_HEADERDATA, stderr);
   rv = curl_easy_setopt(ch,CURLOPT_SSLCERTTYPE,"PEM");
 
   /* both VERIFYPEER and VERIFYHOST are set to 0 in this case because there is
diff --git a/docs/libcurl/libcurl-tutorial.3 b/docs/libcurl/libcurl-tutorial.3
index e862758acf89a36b683293369c39703fcf021ab9..018001d7edae5b0a5acce02d8f3e558cec5e66a5 100644
--- a/docs/libcurl/libcurl-tutorial.3
+++ b/docs/libcurl/libcurl-tutorial.3
@@ -1058,7 +1058,7 @@ to 1.
 What might be even more useful, is libcurl's ability to separate the headers
 from the data and thus make the callbacks differ. You can for example set a
 different pointer to pass to the ordinary write callback by setting
-\fICURLOPT_WRITEHEADER(3)\fP.
+\fICURLOPT_HEADERDATA(3)\fP.
 
 Or, you can set an entirely separate function to receive the headers, by using
 \fICURLOPT_HEADERFUNCTION(3)\fP.
diff --git a/docs/libcurl/libcurl.m4 b/docs/libcurl/libcurl.m4
index d7d5a525915698320bd58cc55eb455be1bd439d2..a84077a5e04e567b7eb83e57794daf24e62bb9e7 100644
--- a/docs/libcurl/libcurl.m4
+++ b/docs/libcurl/libcurl.m4
@@ -153,7 +153,7 @@ int x;
 curl_easy_setopt(NULL,CURLOPT_URL,NULL);
 x=CURL_ERROR_SIZE;
 x=CURLOPT_WRITEFUNCTION;
-x=CURLOPT_FILE;
+x=CURLOPT_WRITEDATA;
 x=CURLOPT_ERRORBUFFER;
 x=CURLOPT_STDERR;
 x=CURLOPT_VERBOSE;
diff --git a/lib/url.c b/lib/url.c
index e09a11a43e8b09152f3def9a5e5779b93b6b89bc..27b376f9c44c1f90039b2f7360705a38a2ec8730 100644
--- a/lib/url.c
+++ b/lib/url.c
@@ -1430,7 +1430,7 @@ CURLcode Curl_setopt(struct SessionHandle *data, CURLoption option,
     break;
 #endif
 
-  case CURLOPT_WRITEHEADER:
+  case CURLOPT_HEADERDATA:
     /*
      * Custom pointer to pass the header write callback function
      */
@@ -1443,7 +1443,7 @@ CURLcode Curl_setopt(struct SessionHandle *data, CURLoption option,
      */
     data->set.errorbuffer = va_arg(param, char *);
     break;
-  case CURLOPT_FILE:
+  case CURLOPT_WRITEDATA:
     /*
      * FILE pointer to write to. Or possibly
      * used as argument to the write callback.