diff --git a/src/CurlHTTP.jl b/src/CurlHTTP.jl
index 7974cd4..bde60ef 100644
--- a/src/CurlHTTP.jl
+++ b/src/CurlHTTP.jl
@@ -331,16 +331,27 @@ LibCURL.curl_easy_setopt(curl::CurlEasy, opt::Any, ptrval::Ptr) = curl_easy_seto
 LibCURL.curl_easy_setopt(curl::CurlEasy, opt::Any, ptrval::AbstractString) = curl_easy_setopt(curl.handle, opt, ptrval)
 LibCURL.curl_easy_setopt(curl::CurlEasy, opt::Any, param::Any) = curl_easy_setopt(curl.handle, opt, param)
 
-LibCURL.curl_easy_escape(curl::CurlEasy, s, l) = (s_esc = curl_easy_escape(curl.handle, s, l); s_ret = deepcopy(pointer_to_string(s_esc)); curl_free(s_esc); s_ret;)
+function LibCURL.curl_easy_escape(curl::CurlEasy, s, l)
+    s_esc = curl_easy_escape(curl.handle, s, l)
+    s_len = ccall(:strlen, Csize_t, (Ptr{Cvoid}, ), s_esc)
+    s_ret = Array{UInt8}(undef, s_len)
+
+    unsafe_copyto!(pointer(s_ret), s_esc, s_len)
+
+    curl_free(s_esc)
+    String(s_ret)
+end
 
 LibCURL.curl_easy_duphandle(curl::CurlEasy) = CurlEasy(curl_easy_duphandle(curl.handle))
 
 """
-    curl_url_escape(::CurlEasy, ::String) → String
+    * curl_url_escape(::CurlEasy, ::String) → String
+    * curl_url_escape(::String) → String
 
 Use curl to do URL escaping
 """
 curl_url_escape(curl::CurlEasy, s::AbstractString) = curl_easy_escape(curl, s, 0)
+curl_url_escape(s::AbstractString) = curl_url_escape(CurlEasy(curl_easy_init()), s)
 
 """
 Cleanup the `CurlHandle` automatically determining what needs to be done for `curl_easy` vs `curl_multi` handles.
diff --git a/test/runtests.jl b/test/runtests.jl
index 28371ef..72003d3 100644
--- a/test/runtests.jl
+++ b/test/runtests.jl
@@ -320,6 +320,10 @@ function test_Certs()
     @test CurlEasy(cacertpath=LibCURL.cacert) isa CurlEasy
 end
 
+function test_UrlEscape()
+    @test "hello%20world%2C%20how%20are%20you%3F%20I%27m%20fine%21%20%23escape" == curl_url_escape("hello world, how are you? I'm fine! #escape")
+end
+
 @testset "Curl" begin
     @testset "GET" begin
         test_GET()
@@ -335,6 +339,7 @@ end
     @testset "writeCB"   begin test_writeCB()   end
     @testset "headerCB"  begin test_headerCB()  end
     @testset "multiPOST" begin test_multiPOST() end
-    @testset "test_multi_writeCB" begin test_multi_writeCB() end
-    @testset "test Certs" begin test_Certs() end
+    @testset "multi writeCB" begin test_multi_writeCB() end
+    @testset "Certs" begin test_Certs() end
+    @testset "URL Escape" begin test_UrlEscape() end
 end