Summary We prove that, for any Tychonoff X, the space C p(X) is K-analytic if and only if it has a compact cover {K p: p ? ??} such that K p subset K q whenever p,q ? ?? and p = q. Applying this result we show that if C p(X) is K-analytic then C p(?X) is K-analytic as well. We also establish that a space C p(X) is K-analytic and Baire if and only if X is countable and discrete.