diff --git a/base/iobuffer.jl b/base/iobuffer.jl
index a41bb4fe745900..51910a42f7ebdd 100644
--- a/base/iobuffer.jl
+++ b/base/iobuffer.jl
@@ -60,13 +60,17 @@ julia> String(take!(io))
 "JuliaLang is a GitHub organization"
 ```
 """
-IOBuffer(data::AbstractVector{UInt8}, readable::Bool=true, writable::Bool=false, maxsize::Integer=typemax(Int)) =
-    GenericIOBuffer(data, readable, writable, true, false, maxsize)
-function IOBuffer(readable::Bool, writable::Bool)
-    b = IOBuffer(StringVector(32), readable, writable)
-    b.data[:] = 0
-    b.size = 0
-    return b
+function IOBuffer(
+        data::AbstractVector{UInt8};
+        read::Union{Bool,Nothing}=nothing,
+        write::Union{Bool,Nothing}=nothing,
+        append::Union{Bool,Nothing}=nothing,
+        maxsize::Integer=typemax(Int))
+    if maxsize < 0
+        throw(ArgumentError("negative maxsize: $(maxsize)"))
+    end
+    flags = open_flags(read=read, write=write, append=append)
+    return GenericIOBuffer(data, flags.read, flags.write, true, flags.append, Int(maxsize))
 end
 
 """
@@ -85,7 +89,16 @@ julia> String(take!(io))
 "JuliaLang is a GitHub organization. It has many members."
 ```
 """
-IOBuffer() = IOBuffer(true, true)
+function IOBuffer(;read::Bool=true, write::Bool=true)
+    b = IOBuffer(StringVector(32), read=read, write=write)
+    b.data[:] = 0
+    b.size = 0
+    return b
+end
+
+# TODO: deprecate these methods?
+IOBuffer(data::AbstractVector{UInt8}, read::Bool, write::Bool, maxsize::Integer=typemax(Int)) = IOBuffer(data, read=read, write=write, maxsize=maxsize)
+IOBuffer(read::Bool, write::Bool) = IOBuffer(read=read, write=write)
 
 """
     IOBuffer(size::Integer)
@@ -110,7 +123,11 @@ julia> String(take!(io))
 "Hello world "
 ```
 """
-IOBuffer(maxsize::Integer) = (x=IOBuffer(StringVector(maxsize), true, true, maxsize); x.size=0; x)
+function IOBuffer(maxsize::Integer)
+    buf = IOBuffer(StringVector(maxsize), read=true, write=true, maxsize=maxsize)
+    buf.size = 0
+    return buf
+end
 
 # PipeBuffers behave like Unix Pipes. They are typically readable and writable, they act appendable, and are not seekable.