diff --git a/include/haproxy/http_client.h b/include/haproxy/http_client.h
index a34b3cd81..af7a17e34 100644
--- a/include/haproxy/http_client.h
+++ b/include/haproxy/http_client.h
@@ -10,4 +10,11 @@ struct appctx *httpclient_start(struct httpclient *hc);
 int httpclient_res_xfer(struct httpclient *hc, struct buffer *dst);
 int httpclient_req_gen(struct httpclient *hc, const struct ist url, enum http_meth_t meth, const struct http_hdr *hdrs);
 
+
+/* Return the amount of data available in the httpclient response buffer */
+static inline int httpclient_data(struct httpclient *hc)
+{
+	return b_data(&hc->res.buf);
+}
+
 #endif /* ! _HAPROXY_HTTCLIENT_H */
diff --git a/src/http_client.c b/src/http_client.c
index 69297e136..d6889366e 100644
--- a/src/http_client.c
+++ b/src/http_client.c
@@ -200,7 +200,7 @@ static int hc_cli_io_handler(struct appctx *appctx)
 		ret = httpclient_res_xfer(hc, &si_ic(si)->buf);
 		channel_add_input(si_ic(si), ret); /* forward what we put in the buffer channel */
 
-		if (!b_data(&hc->res.buf)) {/* remove the flag if the buffer was emptied */
+		if (!httpclient_data(hc)) {/* remove the flag if the buffer was emptied */
 			appctx->ctx.cli.i0 &= ~HC_CLI_F_RES_BODY;
 		}
 		goto out;