diff --git a/doc/markup/code.rst b/doc/markup/code.rst
index 299ab0bc0..2fd51c84b 100644
--- a/doc/markup/code.rst
+++ b/doc/markup/code.rst
@@ -113,8 +113,20 @@ Includes
       .. literalinclude:: example.py
          :encoding: latin-1
 
+   The directive also supports including only parts of the file.  If it is a
+   Python module, you can select a class, function or method to include using
+   the ``pyobject`` option::
+
+      .. literalinclude:: example.py
+         :pyobject: Timer.start
+
+   This would only include the code lines belonging to the ``start()`` method in
+   the ``Timer`` class within the file.
+
    .. versionadded:: 0.4.3
       The ``encoding`` option.
+   .. versionadded:: 0.6
+      The ``pyobject`` option.
 
 
 .. rubric:: Footnotes
diff --git a/sphinx/directives/code.py b/sphinx/directives/code.py
index 7ac9a1c3a..cc74566d1 100644
--- a/sphinx/directives/code.py
+++ b/sphinx/directives/code.py
@@ -69,7 +69,7 @@ def literalinclude_directive(name, arguments, options, content, lineno,
     fn = path.normpath(path.join(source_dir, rel_fn))
 
     fromline = toline = None
-    objectname = options.get('object')
+    objectname = options.get('pyobject')
     if objectname is not None:
         from sphinx.pycode import ModuleAnalyzer
         analyzer = ModuleAnalyzer.for_file(fn, '')
@@ -109,7 +109,7 @@ def literalinclude_directive(name, arguments, options, content, lineno,
 literalinclude_directive.options = {'linenos': directives.flag,
                                     'language': directives.unchanged_required,
                                     'encoding': directives.encoding,
-                                    'object': directives.unchanged_required,
+                                    'pyobject': directives.unchanged_required,
                                     #'lines': directives.unchanged_required,
                                     #'start-after': directives.unchanged_required,
                                     #'end-before': directives.unchanged_required,