diff --git a/tests/examples.py b/tests/examples.py
index 23e61ab..e34a8fb 100644
--- a/tests/examples.py
+++ b/tests/examples.py
@@ -1,121 +1,60 @@
 
 from __future__ import absolute_import, division, print_function
 
+import os
+
 import tldp.doctypes
 
+datadir = os.path.join(os.path.dirname(__file__), 'testdata')
+
 ex_linuxdoc = {
                'ext': '.sgml',
                'type': tldp.doctypes.linuxdoc.Linuxdoc,
-               'content': '''<!doctype linuxdoc system>
-<article>
-<title>B
-<author>A
-<date>2016-02-11
-<abstract> abstract </abstract>
-<toc>
-<sect>Introduction
-<p>
-<sect>Stuff.
-<p>
-<sect>More-stuff.
-<p>
-</article>''',
+               'filename': os.path.join(datadir, 'linuxdoc-simple.sgml'),
               }
 
 ex_docbooksgml = {
                   'ext': '.sgml',
                   'type': tldp.doctypes.docbooksgml.DocbookSGML,
-                  'content': '''<!DOCTYPE article PUBLIC "-//OASIS//DTD DocBook V4.1//EN">
-<article>
-  <articleinfo>
-    <title>T</title>
-    <author>
-      <firstname>A</firstname> <surname>B</surname>
-      <affiliation>
-        <address><email>devnull@example.org</email></address>
-      </affiliation>
-    </author>
-    <pubdate>2016-02-11</pubdate>
-    <abstract><para>abstract</para> </abstract>
-    <revhistory>
-       <revision>
-         <revnumber>1.0</revnumber>
-         <date>2016-02-11</date>
-         <authorinitials>AB</authorinitials>
-         <revremark>Initial release.</revremark>
-       </revision>
-    </revhistory>
-
-  </articleinfo>
-
-  <sect1 id="intro"><title>Introduction</title>
-    <para>Text</para>
-    <sect2 id="copyright"><title>More stuff</title>
-      <para>Text</para>
-    </sect2>
-  </sect1>
-</article>'''
+                  'filename': os.path.join(datadir, 'docbooksgml-simple.sgml'),
                  }
 
 ex_docbook4xml = {
                  'ext': '.xml',
                  'type': tldp.doctypes.docbook4xml.Docbook4XML,
-                 'content': '''<?xml version="1.0" standalone="no"?>
-<!DOCTYPE article PUBLIC "-//OASIS//DTD DocBook XML V4.1.2//EN"
-                         "http://www.oasis-open.org/docbook/xml/4.2/docbookx.dtd">
-<article>
-  <articleinfo>
-    <title>T</title>
-    <author><firstname>A</firstname><surname>B</surname></author>
-    <authorinitials>AB</authorinitials>
-    <revhistory> <revision>
-         <revnumber>v0.0</revnumber>
-         <date>2016-02-11</date>
-         <authorinitials>AB</authorinitials>
-          <revremark> Initial release.  </revremark>
-      </revision> </revhistory>
-    <abstract> <para> abstract </para> </abstract>
-  </articleinfo>
-
-  <sect1 id="intro">
-    <title>Intro</title>
-    <para>Text</para>
-    <sect2>
-      <title>Intro</title>
-      <para>Text</para>
-    </sect2>
-  </sect1>
-
-</article>'''
+                 'filename': os.path.join(datadir, 'docbook4xml-simple.xml'),
                 }
 
 ex_docbook5xml = {
                  'ext': '.xml',
                  'type': tldp.doctypes.docbook5xml.Docbook5XML,
-                 'content': '''<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
-<article xmlns="http://docbook.org/ns/docbook" version="5.0" xml:lang="en">
-  <title>Sample article</title>
-  <para>This is a ridiculously terse article.</para>
-</article>'''
+                 'filename': os.path.join(datadir, 'docbook5xml-simple.xml'),
                 }
 
 ex_rst = {
           'ext': '.rst',
           'type': tldp.doctypes.rst.RestructuredText,
-          'content': '''Empty.''',
+          'filename': os.path.join(datadir, 'restructuredtext-simple.rst'),
          }
 
 ex_text = {
            'ext': '.txt',
            'type': tldp.doctypes.text.Text,
-           'content': '''Empty.''',
+           'filename': os.path.join(datadir, 'text-simple.txt'),
           }
 
 ex_markdown = {
                'ext': '.md',
                'type': tldp.doctypes.markdown.Markdown,
-               'content': '''Empty.''',
+               'filename': os.path.join(datadir, 'markdown-simple.md'),
               }
 
 
+# -- a bit ugly, but grab each dict
+examples = [y for x, y in locals().items() if x.startswith('ex_')]
+
+for ex in examples:
+    ex['content'] = open(ex['filename']).read()
+
+
 # -- end of file