diff --git a/pgcli/main.py b/pgcli/main.py
index e0bc2dce3..29f5311c4 100755
--- a/pgcli/main.py
+++ b/pgcli/main.py
@@ -7,6 +7,7 @@
 import traceback
 import logging
 from time import time
+from codecs import open
 
 import click
 import sqlparse
@@ -97,6 +98,8 @@ def register_special_commands(self):
                               'Refresh auto-completions.', arg_type=NO_QUERY)
         self.pgspecial.register(self.refresh_completions, '\\refresh', '\\refresh',
                               'Refresh auto-completions.', arg_type=NO_QUERY)
+        self.pgspecial.register(self.execute_from_file, '\\i', '\\i filename',
+                              'Execute commands from file.')
 
     def change_db(self, pattern, **_):
         if pattern:
@@ -108,6 +111,18 @@ def change_db(self, pattern, **_):
         yield (None, None, None, 'You are now connected to database "%s" as '
                 'user "%s"' % (self.pgexecute.dbname, self.pgexecute.user))
 
+    def execute_from_file(self, pattern, **_):
+        if not pattern:
+            message = '\\i: missing required argument'
+            return [(None, None, None, message)]
+        try:
+            with open(os.path.expanduser(pattern), encoding='utf-8') as f:
+                query = f.read()
+        except IOError as e:
+            return [(None, None, None, str(e))]
+
+        return self.pgexecute.run(query, self.pgspecial)
+
     def initialize_logging(self):
 
         log_file = self.config['main']['log_file']
diff --git a/pgcli/packages/pgspecial/iocommands.py b/pgcli/packages/pgspecial/iocommands.py
index 0a2969693..621b5862e 100644
--- a/pgcli/packages/pgspecial/iocommands.py
+++ b/pgcli/packages/pgspecial/iocommands.py
@@ -1,11 +1,9 @@
 import re
 import logging
-from codecs import open
-from os.path import expanduser
 import click
 from .namedqueries import namedqueries
-from .main import special_command, NO_QUERY
 from . import export
+from .main import special_command
 
 _logger = logging.getLogger(__name__)
 
@@ -68,30 +66,6 @@ def open_external_editor(filename=None, sql=''):
 
     return (query, message)
 
-@special_command('\\i', '\\i file', 'Execute commands from file.')
-def execute_from_file(cur, pattern, **_):
-    if pattern:
-        try:
-            query = read_from_file(pattern)
-        except IOError as e:
-            message = 'Error reading file: %s' % pattern
-            message = message + ' Error was: ' + str(e)
-            return [(None, None, None, message)]
-    else:
-        message = '\\i: missing required argument'
-        return [(None, None, None, message)]
-    cur.execute(query)
-    if cur.description:
-        headers = [x[0] for x in cur.description]
-        return [(None, cur, headers, cur.statusmessage)]
-    else:
-        return [(None, None, None, cur.statusmessage)]
-
-def read_from_file(path):
-    with open(expanduser(path), encoding='utf-8') as f:
-        contents = f.read()
-    return contents
-
 @special_command('\\n', '\\n[+] [name]', 'List or execute named queries.')
 def execute_named_query(cur, pattern, **_):
     """Returns (title, rows, headers, status)"""