diff --git a/src/rustc_serialize/reader.rs b/src/rustc_serialize/reader.rs
index ad1ba99..be36fd5 100644
--- a/src/rustc_serialize/reader.rs
+++ b/src/rustc_serialize/reader.rs
@@ -102,8 +102,7 @@ impl From<IoError> for DecodingError {
 /// In most cases, prefer the `decode_from` function.
 ///
 /// ```rust,no_run
-/// let file = ...
-/// let dr = bincode::rustc_serialize::DecoderReader::new(&mut file, SizeLimit::Infinite);
+/// let dr = bincode::rustc_serialize::DecoderReader::new(&mut some_reader, SizeLimit::Infinite);
 /// let result: T = Decodable::decode(&mut dr);
 /// let bytes_red = dr.bytes_read();
 /// ```
diff --git a/src/serde/reader.rs b/src/serde/reader.rs
index 57ee1c8..6ab2af1 100644
--- a/src/serde/reader.rs
+++ b/src/serde/reader.rs
@@ -156,8 +156,7 @@ pub type DeserializeResult<T> = Result<T, DeserializeError>;
 /// In most cases, prefer the `decode_from` function.
 ///
 /// ```rust,no_run
-/// let file = ...
-/// let d = Deserializer::new(&mut file, SizeLimit::new());
+/// let d = Deserializer::new(&mut some_reader, SizeLimit::new());
 /// serde::Deserialize::deserialize(&mut deserializer);
 /// let bytes_read = d.bytes_read();
 /// ```