diff --git a/imgsrc/srv/generate.py b/imgsrc/srv/generate.py
index c2a8ae9f14..c21c37d643 100644
--- a/imgsrc/srv/generate.py
+++ b/imgsrc/srv/generate.py
@@ -36,7 +36,7 @@ def merge():
         for child in svg.iterchildren('*'):
             clone_node(child, symbol)
         ans.append(symbol)
-    ans = etree.tostring(ans, encoding=unicode, pretty_print=True, with_tail=False)
+    ans = etree.tostring(ans, encoding='unicode', pretty_print=True, with_tail=False)
     ans = re.sub('<svg[^>]+>', '<svg style="display:none">', ans, count=1)
     return ans
 
diff --git a/manual/conf.py b/manual/conf.py
index 5ffab2fbb9..0649b64c63 100644
--- a/manual/conf.py
+++ b/manual/conf.py
@@ -168,7 +168,7 @@ def sort_languages(x):
     lc, name = x
     if lc == language:
         return ''
-    return sort_key(unicode(name))
+    return sort_key(type(u'')(name))
 
 
 html_context['other_languages'].sort(key=sort_languages)
diff --git a/manual/custom.py b/manual/custom.py
index 2f6a402bd4..2c9b31d514 100644
--- a/manual/custom.py
+++ b/manual/custom.py
@@ -198,7 +198,7 @@ def generate_ebook_convert_help(preamble, app):
 
 
 def update_cli_doc(name, raw, app):
-    if isinstance(raw, unicode):
+    if isinstance(raw, type(u'')):
         raw = raw.encode('utf-8')
     path = 'generated/%s/%s.rst' % (app.config.language, name)
     old_raw = open(path, 'rb').read() if os.path.exists(path) else ''
diff --git a/manual/plugin_examples/interface_demo/config.py b/manual/plugin_examples/interface_demo/config.py
index 4f87eba98b..a8cd4ab786 100644
--- a/manual/plugin_examples/interface_demo/config.py
+++ b/manual/plugin_examples/interface_demo/config.py
@@ -21,6 +21,7 @@ prefs = JSONConfig('plugins/interface_demo')
 # Set defaults
 prefs.defaults['hello_world_msg'] = 'Hello, World!'
 
+
 class ConfigWidget(QWidget):
 
     def __init__(self):
@@ -37,5 +38,4 @@ class ConfigWidget(QWidget):
         self.label.setBuddy(self.msg)
 
     def save_settings(self):
-        prefs['hello_world_msg'] = unicode(self.msg.text())
-
+        prefs['hello_world_msg'] = self.msg.text()
diff --git a/setup/__init__.py b/setup/__init__.py
index 0f9b840120..a6e86df9db 100644
--- a/setup/__init__.py
+++ b/setup/__init__.py
@@ -139,7 +139,7 @@ else:
         enc = preferred_encoding
         safe_encode = kwargs.get('safe_encode', False)
         for i, arg in enumerate(args):
-            if isinstance(arg, unicode):
+            if isinstance(arg, type(u'')):
                 try:
                     arg = arg.encode(enc)
                 except UnicodeEncodeError:
@@ -150,8 +150,8 @@ else:
                 try:
                     arg = str(arg)
                 except ValueError:
-                    arg = unicode(arg)
-                if isinstance(arg, unicode):
+                    arg = type(u'')(arg)
+                if isinstance(arg, type(u'')):
                     try:
                         arg = arg.encode(enc)
                     except UnicodeEncodeError:
diff --git a/src/calibre/ebooks/BeautifulSoup.py b/src/calibre/ebooks/BeautifulSoup.py
index dd2a6b80b3..d78376fb48 100644
--- a/src/calibre/ebooks/BeautifulSoup.py
+++ b/src/calibre/ebooks/BeautifulSoup.py
@@ -1795,41 +1795,41 @@ class UnicodeDammit:
             elif xml_data[:4] == '\x00\x3c\x00\x3f':
                 # UTF-16BE
                 sniffed_xml_encoding = 'utf-16be'
-                #xml_data = unicode(xml_data, 'utf-16be').encode('utf-8')
+                #xml_data = type(u'')(xml_data, 'utf-16be').encode('utf-8')
             elif (len(xml_data) >= 4) and (xml_data[:2] == '\xfe\xff') \
                      and (xml_data[2:4] != '\x00\x00'):
                 # UTF-16BE with BOM
                 sniffed_xml_encoding = 'utf-16be'
-                #xml_data = unicode(xml_data[2:], 'utf-16be').encode('utf-8')
+                #xml_data = type(u'')(xml_data[2:], 'utf-16be').encode('utf-8')
             elif xml_data[:4] == '\x3c\x00\x3f\x00':
                 # UTF-16LE
                 sniffed_xml_encoding = 'utf-16le'
-                #xml_data = unicode(xml_data, 'utf-16le').encode('utf-8')
+                #xml_data = type(u'')(xml_data, 'utf-16le').encode('utf-8')
             elif (len(xml_data) >= 4) and (xml_data[:2] == '\xff\xfe') and \
                      (xml_data[2:4] != '\x00\x00'):
                 # UTF-16LE with BOM
                 sniffed_xml_encoding = 'utf-16le'
-                #xml_data = unicode(xml_data[2:], 'utf-16le').encode('utf-8')
+                #xml_data = type(u'')(xml_data[2:], 'utf-16le').encode('utf-8')
             elif xml_data[:4] == '\x00\x00\x00\x3c':
                 # UTF-32BE
                 sniffed_xml_encoding = 'utf-32be'
-                #xml_data = unicode(xml_data, 'utf-32be').encode('utf-8')
+                #xml_data = type(u'')(xml_data, 'utf-32be').encode('utf-8')
             elif xml_data[:4] == '\x3c\x00\x00\x00':
                 # UTF-32LE
                 sniffed_xml_encoding = 'utf-32le'
-                #xml_data = unicode(xml_data, 'utf-32le').encode('utf-8')
+                #xml_data = type(u'')(xml_data, 'utf-32le').encode('utf-8')
             elif xml_data[:4] == '\x00\x00\xfe\xff':
                 # UTF-32BE with BOM
                 sniffed_xml_encoding = 'utf-32be'
-                #xml_data = unicode(xml_data[4:], 'utf-32be').encode('utf-8')
+                #xml_data = type(u'')(xml_data[4:], 'utf-32be').encode('utf-8')
             elif xml_data[:4] == '\xff\xfe\x00\x00':
                 # UTF-32LE with BOM
                 sniffed_xml_encoding = 'utf-32le'
-                #xml_data = unicode(xml_data[4:], 'utf-32le').encode('utf-8')
+                #xml_data = type(u'')(xml_data[4:], 'utf-32le').encode('utf-8')
             elif xml_data[:3] == '\xef\xbb\xbf':
                 # UTF-8 with BOM
                 sniffed_xml_encoding = 'utf-8'
-                #xml_data = unicode(xml_data[3:], 'utf-8').encode('utf-8')
+                #xml_data = type(u'')(xml_data[3:], 'utf-8').encode('utf-8')
             else:
                 sniffed_xml_encoding = 'ascii'
                 pass
diff --git a/src/calibre/ebooks/metadata/sources/amazon.py b/src/calibre/ebooks/metadata/sources/amazon.py
index 70f70b1052..da64255ee5 100644
--- a/src/calibre/ebooks/metadata/sources/amazon.py
+++ b/src/calibre/ebooks/metadata/sources/amazon.py
@@ -93,7 +93,7 @@ def parse_details_page(url, log, timeout, browser, domain):
     errmsg = root.xpath('//*[@id="errorMessage"]')
     if errmsg:
         msg = 'Failed to parse amazon details page: %r' % url
-        msg += tostring(errmsg, method='text', encoding=unicode).strip()
+        msg += tostring(errmsg, method='text', encoding='unicode').strip()
         log.error(msg)
         return
 
@@ -466,7 +466,7 @@ class Worker(Thread):  # Get details {{{
             self.result_queue.put(mi)
 
     def totext(self, elem):
-        return self.tostring(elem, encoding=unicode, method='text').strip()
+        return self.tostring(elem, encoding='unicode', method='text').strip()
 
     def parse_title(self, root):
         h1 = root.xpath('//h1[@id="title"]')
@@ -478,10 +478,10 @@ class Worker(Thread):  # Get details {{{
         tdiv = root.xpath('//h1[contains(@class, "parseasinTitle")]')[0]
         actual_title = tdiv.xpath('descendant::*[@id="btAsinTitle"]')
         if actual_title:
-            title = self.tostring(actual_title[0], encoding=unicode,
+            title = self.tostring(actual_title[0], encoding='unicode',
                                   method='text').strip()
         else:
-            title = self.tostring(tdiv, encoding=unicode,
+            title = self.tostring(tdiv, encoding='unicode',
                                   method='text').strip()
         ans = re.sub(r'[(\[].*[)\]]', '', title).strip()
         if not ans:
@@ -508,7 +508,7 @@ class Worker(Thread):  # Get details {{{
                     ''')
         for x in aname:
             x.tail = ''
-        authors = [self.tostring(x, encoding=unicode, method='text').strip() for x
+        authors = [self.tostring(x, encoding='unicode', method='text').strip() for x
                    in aname]
         authors = [a for a in authors if a]
         return authors
@@ -559,7 +559,7 @@ class Worker(Thread):  # Get details {{{
         for a in desc.xpath('descendant::a[@href]'):
             del a.attrib['href']
             a.tag = 'span'
-        desc = self.tostring(desc, method='html', encoding=unicode).strip()
+        desc = self.tostring(desc, method='html', encoding='unicode').strip()
 
         # Encoding bug in Amazon data U+fffd (replacement char)
         # in some examples it is present in place of '
@@ -626,14 +626,14 @@ class Worker(Thread):  # Get details {{{
             spans = series.xpath('./span')
             if spans:
                 raw = self.tostring(
-                    spans[0], encoding=unicode, method='text', with_tail=False).strip()
+                    spans[0], encoding='unicode', method='text', with_tail=False).strip()
                 m = re.search(r'\s+([0-9.]+)$', raw.strip())
                 if m is not None:
                     series_index = float(m.group(1))
                     s = series.xpath('./a[@id="series-page-link"]')
                     if s:
                         series = self.tostring(
-                            s[0], encoding=unicode, method='text', with_tail=False).strip()
+                            s[0], encoding='unicode', method='text', with_tail=False).strip()
                         if series:
                             ans = (series, series_index)
         # This is found on Kindle edition pages on amazon.com
@@ -646,7 +646,7 @@ class Worker(Thread):  # Get details {{{
                     a = span.xpath('./a[@href]')
                     if a:
                         series = self.tostring(
-                            a[0], encoding=unicode, method='text', with_tail=False).strip()
+                            a[0], encoding='unicode', method='text', with_tail=False).strip()
                         if series:
                             ans = (series, series_index)
         # This is found on newer Kindle edition pages on amazon.com
@@ -659,14 +659,14 @@ class Worker(Thread):  # Get details {{{
                     a = b.getparent().xpath('./a[@href]')
                     if a:
                         series = self.tostring(
-                            a[0], encoding=unicode, method='text', with_tail=False).partition('(')[0].strip()
+                            a[0], encoding='unicode', method='text', with_tail=False).partition('(')[0].strip()
                         if series:
                             ans = series, series_index
 
         if ans == (None, None):
             desc = root.xpath('//div[@id="ps-content"]/div[@class="buying"]')
             if desc:
-                raw = self.tostring(desc[0], method='text', encoding=unicode)
+                raw = self.tostring(desc[0], method='text', encoding='unicode')
                 raw = re.sub(r'\s+', ' ', raw)
                 match = self.series_pat.search(raw)
                 if match is not None:
@@ -1161,7 +1161,7 @@ class Amazon(Source):
         if not result_links:
             result_links = root.xpath(r'//li[starts-with(@id, "result_")]//a[@href and contains(@class, "s-access-detail-page")]')
         for a in result_links:
-            title = tostring(a, method='text', encoding=unicode)
+            title = tostring(a, method='text', encoding='unicode')
             if title_ok(title):
                 url = a.get('href')
                 if url.startswith('/'):
@@ -1177,7 +1177,7 @@ class Amazon(Source):
                     # New amazon markup
                     links = div.xpath('descendant::h3/a[@href]')
                 for a in links:
-                    title = tostring(a, method='text', encoding=unicode)
+                    title = tostring(a, method='text', encoding='unicode')
                     if title_ok(title):
                         url = a.get('href')
                         if url.startswith('/'):
@@ -1192,7 +1192,7 @@ class Amazon(Source):
             for td in root.xpath(
                     r'//div[@id="Results"]/descendant::td[starts-with(@id, "search:Td:")]'):
                 for a in td.xpath(r'descendant::td[@class="dataColumn"]/descendant::a[@href]/span[@class="srTitle"]/..'):
-                    title = tostring(a, method='text', encoding=unicode)
+                    title = tostring(a, method='text', encoding='unicode')
                     if title_ok(title):
                         url = a.get('href')
                         if url.startswith('/'):
diff --git a/src/calibre/ebooks/metadata/sources/cli.py b/src/calibre/ebooks/metadata/sources/cli.py
index 6424ab5041..d7d5153cf9 100644
--- a/src/calibre/ebooks/metadata/sources/cli.py
+++ b/src/calibre/ebooks/metadata/sources/cli.py
@@ -99,7 +99,7 @@ def main(args=sys.argv):
     log = buf.getvalue()
 
     result = (metadata_to_opf(result) if opts.opf else
-                    unicode(result).encode('utf-8'))
+                    type(u'')(result).encode('utf-8'))
 
     if opts.verbose:
         print (log, file=sys.stderr)
diff --git a/src/calibre/ebooks/metadata/sources/douban.py b/src/calibre/ebooks/metadata/sources/douban.py
index 77b8b392f3..5248565b47 100644
--- a/src/calibre/ebooks/metadata/sources/douban.py
+++ b/src/calibre/ebooks/metadata/sources/douban.py
@@ -203,7 +203,7 @@ class Douban(Source):
                     build_term('author', author_tokens))
             t = 'search'
         q = q.strip()
-        if isinstance(q, unicode):
+        if isinstance(q, type(u'')):
             q = q.encode('utf-8')
         if not q:
             return None
diff --git a/src/calibre/ebooks/metadata/sources/edelweiss.py b/src/calibre/ebooks/metadata/sources/edelweiss.py
index fd6425eeac..79867ddcb7 100644
--- a/src/calibre/ebooks/metadata/sources/edelweiss.py
+++ b/src/calibre/ebooks/metadata/sources/edelweiss.py
@@ -31,7 +31,7 @@ def parse_html(raw):
 
 def astext(node):
     from lxml import etree
-    return etree.tostring(node, method='text', encoding=unicode,
+    return etree.tostring(node, method='text', encoding='unicode',
                           with_tail=False).strip()
 
 
@@ -110,7 +110,7 @@ class Worker(Thread):  # {{{
         for a in desc.xpath('descendant::a[@href]'):
             del a.attrib['href']
             a.tag = 'span'
-        desc = etree.tostring(desc, method='html', encoding=unicode).strip()
+        desc = etree.tostring(desc, method='html', encoding='unicode').strip()
 
         # remove all attributes from tags
         desc = re.sub(r'<([a-zA-Z0-9]+)\s[^>]+>', r'<\1>', desc)
@@ -160,7 +160,7 @@ def get_basic_data(browser, log, *skus):
             tags = []
         rating = 0
         for bar in row.xpath('descendant::*[contains(@class, "bgdColorCommunity")]/@style'):
-            m = re.search('width: (\d+)px;.*max-width: (\d+)px', bar)
+            m = re.search(r'width: (\d+)px;.*max-width: (\d+)px', bar)
             if m is not None:
                 rating = float(m.group(1)) / float(m.group(2))
                 break
@@ -283,7 +283,7 @@ class Edelweiss(Source):
             except Exception as e:
                 log.exception('Failed to make identify query: %r'%query)
                 return as_unicode(e)
-            items = re.search('window[.]items\s*=\s*(.+?);', raw)
+            items = re.search(r'window[.]items\s*=\s*(.+?);', raw)
             if items is None:
                 log.error('Failed to get list of matching items')
                 log.debug('Response text:')
diff --git a/src/calibre/ebooks/metadata/sources/google.py b/src/calibre/ebooks/metadata/sources/google.py
index acc85e177e..609fe51d9c 100644
--- a/src/calibre/ebooks/metadata/sources/google.py
+++ b/src/calibre/ebooks/metadata/sources/google.py
@@ -214,7 +214,7 @@ class GoogleBooks(Source):
             if author_tokens:
                 q += ('+' if q else '') + build_term('author', author_tokens)
 
-        if isinstance(q, unicode):
+        if isinstance(q, type(u'')):
             q = q.encode('utf-8')
         if not q:
             return None
diff --git a/src/calibre/ebooks/metadata/sources/identify.py b/src/calibre/ebooks/metadata/sources/identify.py
index 2861f8435a..5fc4a5bfb0 100644
--- a/src/calibre/ebooks/metadata/sources/identify.py
+++ b/src/calibre/ebooks/metadata/sources/identify.py
@@ -471,7 +471,7 @@ def identify(log, abort,  # {{{
         for r in presults:
             log('\n\n---')
             try:
-                log(unicode(r))
+                log(type(u'')(r))
             except TypeError:
                 log(repr(r))
         if plog:
diff --git a/src/calibre/ebooks/metadata/sources/overdrive.py b/src/calibre/ebooks/metadata/sources/overdrive.py
index 51ed5c8136..471f7a669a 100755
--- a/src/calibre/ebooks/metadata/sources/overdrive.py
+++ b/src/calibre/ebooks/metadata/sources/overdrive.py
@@ -233,7 +233,7 @@ class OverDrive(Source):
             xreq.add_header('Referer', q_init_search)
             xreq.add_header('Accept', 'application/json, text/javascript, */*')
             raw = br.open_novisit(xreq).read()
-            for m in re.finditer(unicode(r'"iTotalDisplayRecords":(?P<displayrecords>\d+).*?"iTotalRecords":(?P<totalrecords>\d+)'), raw):
+            for m in re.finditer(type(u'')(r'"iTotalDisplayRecords":(?P<displayrecords>\d+).*?"iTotalRecords":(?P<totalrecords>\d+)'), raw):
                 if int(m.group('totalrecords')) == 0:
                     return ''
                 elif int(m.group('displayrecords')) >= 1:
@@ -450,7 +450,7 @@ class OverDrive(Source):
 
         if desc:
             desc = desc[0]
-            desc = html.tostring(desc, method='html', encoding=unicode).strip()
+            desc = html.tostring(desc, method='html', encoding='unicode').strip()
             # remove all attributes from tags
             desc = re.sub(r'<([a-zA-Z0-9]+)\s[^>]+>', r'<\1>', desc)
             # Remove comments
diff --git a/src/calibre/ebooks/metadata/sources/ozon.py b/src/calibre/ebooks/metadata/sources/ozon.py
index b125c45f26..0c167d90ac 100644
--- a/src/calibre/ebooks/metadata/sources/ozon.py
+++ b/src/calibre/ebooks/metadata/sources/ozon.py
@@ -100,7 +100,7 @@ class Ozon(Source):
         qItems.discard('')
         searchText = u' '.join(qItems).strip()
 
-        if isinstance(searchText, unicode):
+        if isinstance(searchText, type(u'')):
             searchText = searchText.encode('utf-8')
         if not searchText:
             return None
@@ -148,7 +148,7 @@ class Ozon(Source):
             else:
                 # Redirect page: trying to extract ozon_id from javascript data
                 h = HTMLParser()
-                entry_string = (h.unescape(etree.tostring(doc, pretty_print=True, encoding=unicode)))
+                entry_string = (h.unescape(etree.tostring(doc, pretty_print=True, encoding='unicode')))
                 json_pat = re.compile(r'dataLayer\s*=\s*(.+)?;')
                 json_info = re.search(json_pat, entry_string)
                 jsondata = json_info.group(1) if json_info else None
@@ -198,16 +198,16 @@ class Ozon(Source):
 
         reRemoveFromTitle = re.compile(r'[?!:.,;+-/&%"\'=]')
 
-        title = unicode(title).upper() if title else ''
+        title = type(u'')(title).upper() if title else ''
         if reRemoveFromTitle:
             title = reRemoveFromTitle.sub('', title)
         authors = map(_normalizeAuthorNameWithInitials,
-                      map(unicode.upper, map(unicode, authors))) if authors else None
+                      map(type(u'').upper, map(type(u''), authors))) if authors else None
 
         ozon_id = identifiers.get('ozon', None)
         # log.debug(u'ozonid: ', ozon_id)
 
-        unk = unicode(_('Unknown')).upper()
+        unk = type(u'')(_('Unknown')).upper()
 
         if title == unk:
             title = None
@@ -226,7 +226,7 @@ class Ozon(Source):
         def calc_source_relevance(mi):  # {{{
             relevance = 0
             if title:
-                mititle = unicode(mi.title).upper() if mi.title else ''
+                mititle = type(u'')(mi.title).upper() if mi.title else ''
 
                 if reRemoveFromTitle:
                     mititle = reRemoveFromTitle.sub('', mititle)
@@ -240,7 +240,7 @@ class Ozon(Source):
                 relevance += 1
 
             if authors:
-                miauthors = map(unicode.upper, map(unicode, mi.authors)) if mi.authors else []
+                miauthors = map(type(u'').upper, map(type(u''), mi.authors)) if mi.authors else []
                 # log.debug('Authors %s vs miauthors %s'%(','.join(authors), ','.join(miauthors)))
 
                 if (in_authors(authors, miauthors)):
@@ -320,13 +320,13 @@ class Ozon(Source):
     # }}}
 
     def to_metadata(self, log, entry):  # {{{
-        title = unicode(entry.xpath(u'normalize-space(.//div[@itemprop="name"][1]/text())'))
+        title = type(u'')(entry.xpath(u'normalize-space(.//div[@itemprop="name"][1]/text())'))
         # log.debug(u'Title: -----> %s' % title)
 
-        author = unicode(entry.xpath(u'normalize-space(.//div[contains(@class, "mPerson")])'))
+        author = type(u'')(entry.xpath(u'normalize-space(.//div[contains(@class, "mPerson")])'))
         # log.debug(u'Author: -----> %s' % author)
 
-        norm_authors = map(_normalizeAuthorNameWithInitials, map(unicode.strip, unicode(author).split(u',')))
+        norm_authors = map(_normalizeAuthorNameWithInitials, map(type(u'').strip, type(u'')(author).split(u',')))
         mi = Metadata(title, norm_authors)
 
         ozon_id = entry.get('data-href').split('/')[-2]
@@ -524,7 +524,7 @@ class Ozon(Source):
         # comments, from Javascript data
         beginning = fullString.find(u'FirstBlock')
         end = fullString.find(u'}', beginning)
-        comments = unicode(fullString[beginning + 75:end - 1]).decode("unicode-escape")
+        comments = type(u'')(fullString[beginning + 75:end - 1]).decode("unicode-escape")
         metadata.comments = replace_entities(comments, 'utf-8')
         # }}}
 
@@ -603,7 +603,7 @@ def _format_isbn(log, isbn):  # {{{
 
 
 def _translageLanguageToCode(displayLang):  # {{{
-    displayLang = unicode(displayLang).strip() if displayLang else None
+    displayLang = type(u'')(displayLang).strip() if displayLang else None
     langTbl = {None: 'ru',
                u'Русский': 'ru',
                u'Немецкий': 'de',
@@ -627,9 +627,9 @@ def _normalizeAuthorNameWithInitials(name):  # {{{
     if name:
         re1 = r'^(?P<lname>\S+)\s+(?P<fname>[^\d\W]\.)(?:\s*(?P<mname>[^\d\W]\.))?$'
         re2 = r'^(?P<fname>[^\d\W]\.)(?:\s*(?P<mname>[^\d\W]\.))?\s+(?P<lname>\S+)$'
-        matcher = re.match(re1, unicode(name), re.UNICODE)
+        matcher = re.match(re1, type(u'')(name), re.UNICODE)
         if not matcher:
-            matcher = re.match(re2, unicode(name), re.UNICODE)
+            matcher = re.match(re2, type(u'')(name), re.UNICODE)
 
         if matcher:
             d = matcher.groupdict()
@@ -653,7 +653,7 @@ def toPubdate(log, yearAsString):  # {{{
 # }}}
 
 def _listToUnicodePrintStr(lst):  # {{{
-    return u'[' + u', '.join(unicode(x) for x in lst) + u']'
+    return u'[' + u', '.join(type(u'')(x) for x in lst) + u']'
 
 
 # }}}
diff --git a/src/calibre/ebooks/metadata/sources/search_engines.py b/src/calibre/ebooks/metadata/sources/search_engines.py
index c8214f3c7b..1bf6fea908 100644
--- a/src/calibre/ebooks/metadata/sources/search_engines.py
+++ b/src/calibre/ebooks/metadata/sources/search_engines.py
@@ -26,7 +26,7 @@ Result = namedtuple('Result', 'url title cached_url')
 
 
 def tostring(elem):
-    return etree.tostring(elem, encoding=unicode, method='text', with_tail=False)
+    return etree.tostring(elem, encoding='unicode', method='text', with_tail=False)
 
 
 def browser():
diff --git a/src/calibre/ebooks/textile/functions.py b/src/calibre/ebooks/textile/functions.py
index d7c559f952..8c6d5d406e 100755
--- a/src/calibre/ebooks/textile/functions.py
+++ b/src/calibre/ebooks/textile/functions.py
@@ -128,11 +128,11 @@ class Textile(object):
 
     pnct = r'[-!"#$%&()*+,/:;<=>?@\'\[\\\]\.^_`{|}~]'
     # urlch = r'[\w"$\-_.+!*\'(),";/?:@=&%#{}|\\^~\[\]`]'
-    urlch = '[\w"$\-_.+*\'(),";\/?:@=&%#{}|\\^~\[\]`]'
+    urlch = r'[\w"$\-_.+*\'(),";\/?:@=&%#{}|\\^~\[\]`]'
 
     url_schemes = ('http', 'https', 'ftp', 'mailto')
 
-    btag = ('bq', 'bc', 'notextile', 'pre', 'h[1-6]', 'fn\d+', 'p')
+    btag = ('bq', 'bc', 'notextile', 'pre', 'h[1-6]', r'fn\d+', 'p')
     btag_lite = ('bq', 'bc', 'p')
 
     macro_defaults = [
@@ -292,7 +292,7 @@ class Textile(object):
         """
         self.html_type = html_type
 
-        # text = unicode(text)
+        # text = type(u'')(text)
         text = _normalize_newlines(text)
 
         if self.restricted:
diff --git a/src/calibre/gui2/store/stores/biblio_plugin.py b/src/calibre/gui2/store/stores/biblio_plugin.py
index 03873283e2..d085097c86 100644
--- a/src/calibre/gui2/store/stores/biblio_plugin.py
+++ b/src/calibre/gui2/store/stores/biblio_plugin.py
@@ -21,7 +21,9 @@ class BiblioStore(BasicStoreConfig, OpenSearchOPDSStore):
 
     def search(self, query, max_results=10, timeout=60):
         # check for cyrillic symbols before performing search
-        uquery = unicode(query.strip(), 'utf-8')
+        if isinstance(query, bytes):
+            query = query.decode('utf-8')
+        uquery = query.strip()
         reObj = re.search(u'^[а-яА-Я\\d\\s]{3,}$', uquery)
         if not reObj:
             return
diff --git a/src/calibre/gui2/store/stores/chitanka_plugin.py b/src/calibre/gui2/store/stores/chitanka_plugin.py
index 32a4f5099a..052c6fb751 100644
--- a/src/calibre/gui2/store/stores/chitanka_plugin.py
+++ b/src/calibre/gui2/store/stores/chitanka_plugin.py
@@ -43,7 +43,9 @@ class ChitankaStore(BasicStoreConfig, StorePlugin):
 
     def search(self, query, max_results=10, timeout=60):
         # check for cyrillic symbols before performing search
-        uquery = unicode(query.strip(), 'utf-8')
+        if isinstance(query, bytes):
+            query = query.decode('utf-8')
+        uquery = query.strip()
         reObj = re.search(u'^[а-яА-Я\\d\\s]{3,}$', uquery)
         if not reObj:
             return
@@ -56,7 +58,7 @@ class ChitankaStore(BasicStoreConfig, StorePlugin):
         br = browser()
         try:
             with closing(br.open(url, timeout=timeout)) as f:
-                f = unicode(f.read(), 'utf-8')
+                f = f.read().decode('utf-8')
                 doc = html.fromstring(f)
 
                 for data in doc.xpath('//ul[@class="superlist booklist"]/li'):
@@ -98,7 +100,7 @@ class ChitankaStore(BasicStoreConfig, StorePlugin):
             with closing(br2.open(base_url + author_url, timeout=timeout)) as f:
                 if counter <= 0:
                     break
-                f = unicode(f.read(), 'utf-8')
+                f = f.read().decode('utf-8')
                 doc2 = html.fromstring(f)
 
                 # search for book title
diff --git a/src/calibre/gui2/store/stores/ebooksgratuits_plugin.py b/src/calibre/gui2/store/stores/ebooksgratuits_plugin.py
index 48b27badf2..b966d2c2ce 100644
--- a/src/calibre/gui2/store/stores/ebooksgratuits_plugin.py
+++ b/src/calibre/gui2/store/stores/ebooksgratuits_plugin.py
@@ -22,10 +22,9 @@ class EbooksGratuitsStore(BasicStoreConfig, OpenSearchOPDSStore):
         return ascii_text(s)
 
     def search(self, query, max_results=10, timeout=60):
-        query = self.strip_accents(unicode(query))
+        query = self.strip_accents(type(u'')(query))
         for s in OpenSearchOPDSStore.search(self, query, max_results, timeout):
             if s.downloads:
                 s.drm = SearchResult.DRM_UNLOCKED
                 s.price = '$0.00'
                 yield s
-
diff --git a/src/calibre/gui2/store/stores/eknigi_plugin.py b/src/calibre/gui2/store/stores/eknigi_plugin.py
index 1eaf83e7b0..f97dd41c5d 100644
--- a/src/calibre/gui2/store/stores/eknigi_plugin.py
+++ b/src/calibre/gui2/store/stores/eknigi_plugin.py
@@ -49,7 +49,7 @@ class eKnigiStore(BasicStoreConfig, StorePlugin):
 
     def search(self, query, max_results=10, timeout=60):
         # check for cyrillic symbols before performing search
-        uquery = unicode(query.strip(), 'utf-8')
+        uquery = type(u'')(query.strip(), 'utf-8')
         reObj = re.search(u'^[а-яА-Я\\d\\s]{2,}$', uquery)
         if not reObj:
             return
diff --git a/src/calibre/gui2/store/stores/kobo_plugin.py b/src/calibre/gui2/store/stores/kobo_plugin.py
index 74114ffc72..578803c081 100644
--- a/src/calibre/gui2/store/stores/kobo_plugin.py
+++ b/src/calibre/gui2/store/stores/kobo_plugin.py
@@ -46,7 +46,7 @@ def search_kobo(query, max_results=10, timeout=60, write_html_to=None):
                 cover_url = None
 
             for p in select('p.title', item):
-                title = etree.tostring(p, method='text', encoding=unicode).strip()
+                title = etree.tostring(p, method='text', encoding='unicode').strip()
                 for a in select('a[href]', p):
                     url = a.get('href')
                     break
@@ -58,11 +58,11 @@ def search_kobo(query, max_results=10, timeout=60, write_html_to=None):
 
             authors = []
             for a in select('p.contributor-list a.contributor-name', item):
-                authors.append(etree.tostring(a, method='text', encoding=unicode).strip())
+                authors.append(etree.tostring(a, method='text', encoding='unicode').strip())
             authors = authors_to_string(authors)
 
             for p in select('p.price', item):
-                price = etree.tostring(p, method='text', encoding=unicode).strip()
+                price = etree.tostring(p, method='text', encoding='unicode').strip()
                 break
             else:
                 price = None
diff --git a/src/calibre/gui2/store/stores/litres_plugin.py b/src/calibre/gui2/store/stores/litres_plugin.py
index 5e67eff854..13b342cb0a 100644
--- a/src/calibre/gui2/store/stores/litres_plugin.py
+++ b/src/calibre/gui2/store/stores/litres_plugin.py
@@ -88,7 +88,7 @@ class LitResStore(BasicStoreConfig, StorePlugin):
         authors = data.xpath('.//title-info/author/first-name/text()|'
         './/title-info/author/middle-name/text()|'
         './/title-info/author/last-name/text()')
-        sRes.author = u' '.join(map(unicode, authors))
+        sRes.author = u' '.join(map(type(u''), authors))
         sRes.price = data.xpath(xp_template.format('price'))
         # cover vs cover_preview
         sRes.cover_url = data.xpath(xp_template.format('cover_preview'))
@@ -107,7 +107,7 @@ def format_price_in_RUR(price):
     @return: formatted price if possible otherwise original value
     @rtype: unicode
     '''
-    if price and re.match("^\d*?\.\d*?$", price):
+    if price and re.match(r"^\d*?\.\d*?$", price):
         try:
             price = u'{:,.2F} руб.'.format(float(price))
             price = price.replace(',', ' ').replace('.', ',', 1)
diff --git a/src/calibre/gui2/store/stores/mobileread/adv_search_builder.py b/src/calibre/gui2/store/stores/mobileread/adv_search_builder.py
index df90041ddc..42b4b5f3b7 100644
--- a/src/calibre/gui2/store/stores/mobileread/adv_search_builder.py
+++ b/src/calibre/gui2/store/stores/mobileread/adv_search_builder.py
@@ -67,7 +67,7 @@ class AdvSearchBuilderDialog(QDialog, Ui_Dialog):
             self.mc = '='
         else:
             self.mc = '~'
-        all, any, phrase, none = map(lambda x: unicode(x.text()),
+        all, any, phrase, none = map(lambda x: type(u'')(x.text()),
                 (self.all, self.any, self.phrase, self.none))
         all, any, none = map(self.tokens, (all, any, none))
         phrase = phrase.strip()
@@ -86,11 +86,11 @@ class AdvSearchBuilderDialog(QDialog, Ui_Dialog):
         return ans
 
     def token(self):
-        txt = unicode(self.text.text()).strip()
+        txt = type(u'')(self.text.text()).strip()
         if txt:
             if self.negate.isChecked():
                 txt = '!'+txt
-            tok = self.FIELDS[unicode(self.field.currentText())]+txt
+            tok = self.FIELDS[type(u'')(self.field.currentText())]+txt
             if re.search(r'\s', tok):
                 tok = '"%s"'%tok
             return tok
@@ -106,13 +106,13 @@ class AdvSearchBuilderDialog(QDialog, Ui_Dialog):
 
         ans = []
         self.box_last_values = {}
-        title = unicode(self.title_box.text()).strip()
+        title = type(u'')(self.title_box.text()).strip()
         if title:
             ans.append('title:"' + self.mc + title + '"')
-        author = unicode(self.author_box.text()).strip()
+        author = type(u'')(self.author_box.text()).strip()
         if author:
             ans.append('author:"' + self.mc + author + '"')
-        format = unicode(self.format_box.text()).strip()
+        format = type(u'')(self.format_box.text()).strip()
         if format:
             ans.append('format:"' + self.mc + format + '"')
         if ans:
diff --git a/src/calibre/gui2/store/stores/mobileread/cache_update_thread.py b/src/calibre/gui2/store/stores/mobileread/cache_update_thread.py
index d7a8036ecd..5d604725b6 100644
--- a/src/calibre/gui2/store/stores/mobileread/cache_update_thread.py
+++ b/src/calibre/gui2/store/stores/mobileread/cache_update_thread.py
@@ -22,7 +22,7 @@ class CacheUpdateThread(Thread, QObject):
 
     total_changed = pyqtSignal(int)
     update_progress = pyqtSignal(int)
-    update_details = pyqtSignal(unicode)
+    update_details = pyqtSignal(type(u''))
 
     def __init__(self, config, seralize_books_function, timeout):
         Thread.__init__(self)
diff --git a/src/calibre/gui2/store/stores/mobileread/models.py b/src/calibre/gui2/store/stores/mobileread/models.py
index fb3c250a16..54a5b9e0de 100644
--- a/src/calibre/gui2/store/stores/mobileread/models.py
+++ b/src/calibre/gui2/store/stores/mobileread/models.py
@@ -105,7 +105,7 @@ class BooksModel(QAbstractItemModel):
             return
         descending = order == Qt.DescendingOrder
         self.books.sort(None,
-            lambda x: sort_key(unicode(self.data_as_text(x, col))),
+            lambda x: sort_key(type(u'')(self.data_as_text(x, col))),
             descending)
         if reset:
             self.beginResetModel(), self.endResetModel()
diff --git a/src/calibre/gui2/store/stores/mobileread/store_dialog.py b/src/calibre/gui2/store/stores/mobileread/store_dialog.py
index ce8e806a58..a68dd32ebe 100644
--- a/src/calibre/gui2/store/stores/mobileread/store_dialog.py
+++ b/src/calibre/gui2/store/stores/mobileread/store_dialog.py
@@ -40,7 +40,7 @@ class MobileReadStoreDialog(QDialog, Ui_Dialog):
         self.restore_state()
 
     def do_search(self):
-        self.results_view.model().search(unicode(self.search_query.text()))
+        self.results_view.model().search(type(u'')(self.search_query.text()))
 
     def open_store(self, index):
         result = self.results_view.model().get_book(index)
diff --git a/src/calibre/utils/unicode_getpass.py b/src/calibre/utils/unicode_getpass.py
index 887938ad6e..fa027fa1ea 100644
--- a/src/calibre/utils/unicode_getpass.py
+++ b/src/calibre/utils/unicode_getpass.py
@@ -6,31 +6,35 @@ from __future__ import absolute_import, division, print_function, unicode_litera
 
 import sys
 
-from calibre.constants import iswindows, preferred_encoding
+from calibre.constants import iswindows, preferred_encoding, ispy3
 
 
-def getpass(prompt):
-    if iswindows:
-        # getpass is broken on windows with python 2.x and unicode, the
-        # below implementation is from the python 3 source code
-        import msvcrt
-        for c in prompt:
-            msvcrt.putwch(c)
-        pw = ""
-        while 1:
-            c = msvcrt.getwch()
-            if c == '\r' or c == '\n':
-                break
-            if c == '\003':
-                raise KeyboardInterrupt
-            if c == '\b':
-                pw = pw[:-1]
-            else:
-                pw = pw + c
-        msvcrt.putwch('\r')
-        msvcrt.putwch('\n')
-        return pw
-    else:
-        enc = getattr(sys.stdin, 'encoding', preferred_encoding) or preferred_encoding
-        from getpass import getpass
-        return getpass(prompt).decode(enc)
+if ispy3:
+    from getpass import getpass
+    getpass
+else:
+    def getpass(prompt):
+        if iswindows:
+            # getpass is broken on windows with python 2.x and unicode, the
+            # below implementation is from the python 3 source code
+            import msvcrt
+            for c in prompt:
+                msvcrt.putwch(c)
+            pw = ""
+            while 1:
+                c = msvcrt.getwch()
+                if c == '\r' or c == '\n':
+                    break
+                if c == '\003':
+                    raise KeyboardInterrupt
+                if c == '\b':
+                    pw = pw[:-1]
+                else:
+                    pw = pw + c
+            msvcrt.putwch('\r')
+            msvcrt.putwch('\n')
+            return pw
+        else:
+            enc = getattr(sys.stdin, 'encoding', preferred_encoding) or preferred_encoding
+            from getpass import getpass
+            return getpass(prompt).decode(enc)
diff --git a/src/calibre/web/feeds/recipes/__init__.py b/src/calibre/web/feeds/recipes/__init__.py
index a55f4795bf..c72454b827 100644
--- a/src/calibre/web/feeds/recipes/__init__.py
+++ b/src/calibre/web/feeds/recipes/__init__.py
@@ -9,7 +9,7 @@ from calibre.web.feeds.news import (BasicNewsRecipe, CustomIndexRecipe,
     AutomaticNewsRecipe, CalibrePeriodical)
 from calibre.ebooks.BeautifulSoup import BeautifulSoup
 from calibre.utils.config import JSONConfig
-from polyglot.builtins import unicode_type
+from polyglot.builtins import unicode_type, codepoint_to_chr
 
 basic_recipes = (BasicNewsRecipe, AutomaticNewsRecipe, CustomIndexRecipe,
         CalibrePeriodical)
@@ -44,7 +44,9 @@ def compile_recipe(src):
             'BasicNewsRecipe':BasicNewsRecipe,
             'AutomaticNewsRecipe':AutomaticNewsRecipe,
             'time':time, 're':re,
-            'BeautifulSoup':BeautifulSoup
+            'BeautifulSoup':BeautifulSoup,
+            'unicode': unicode_type,
+            'unichr': codepoint_to_chr,
     }
     exec(src, namespace)
 
diff --git a/src/css_selectors/parser.py b/src/css_selectors/parser.py
index 314cc73a88..189c29c0df 100644
--- a/src/css_selectors/parser.py
+++ b/src/css_selectors/parser.py
@@ -15,20 +15,17 @@ import operator
 import string
 
 from css_selectors.errors import SelectorSyntaxError, ExpressionError
+from polyglot.builtins import unicode_type, codepoint_to_chr
 
-if sys.version_info[0] < 3:
-    _unicode = unicode
-    _unichr = unichr
-else:
-    _unicode = str
-    _unichr = chr
 
 tab = string.maketrans(string.ascii_uppercase, string.ascii_lowercase)
 utab = {c:c+32 for c in range(ord('A'), ord('Z')+1)}
 
+
 def ascii_lower(string):
     """Lower-case, but only in the ASCII range."""
-    return string.translate(utab if isinstance(string, _unicode) else tab)
+    return string.translate(utab if isinstance(string, unicode_type) else tab)
+
 
 def urepr(x):
     if isinstance(x, list):
@@ -38,6 +35,7 @@ def urepr(x):
         ans = ans[1:]
     return ans
 
+
 # Parsed objects
 
 class Selector(object):
@@ -385,6 +383,7 @@ def parse_selector_group(stream):
         else:
             break
 
+
 def parse_selector(stream):
     result, pseudo_element = parse_simple_selector(stream)
     while 1:
@@ -461,7 +460,7 @@ def parse_simple_selector(stream, inside_negation=False):
                                  'before', 'after'):
                 # Special case: CSS 2.1 pseudo-elements can have a single ':'
                 # Any new pseudo-element must have two.
-                pseudo_element = _unicode(ident)
+                pseudo_element = unicode_type(ident)
                 continue
             if stream.peek() != ('DELIM', '('):
                 result = Pseudo(result, ident)
@@ -626,11 +625,13 @@ class TokenMacros:
     nmchar = '[_a-z0-9-]|%s|%s' % (escape, nonascii)
     nmstart = '[_a-z]|%s|%s' % (escape, nonascii)
 
+
 def _compile(pattern):
     return re.compile(pattern % vars(TokenMacros), re.IGNORECASE).match
 
+
 _match_whitespace = _compile(r'[ \t\r\n\f]+')
-_match_number = _compile('[+-]?(?:[0-9]*\.[0-9]+|[0-9]+)')
+_match_number = _compile(r'[+-]?(?:[0-9]*\.[0-9]+|[0-9]+)')
 _match_hash = _compile('#(?:%(nmchar)s)+')
 _match_ident = _compile('-?(?:%(nmstart)s)(?:%(nmchar)s)*')
 _match_string_by_quote = {
@@ -650,11 +651,12 @@ else:
     def _replace_simple(match):
         return match.group(1)
 
+
 def _replace_unicode(match):
     codepoint = int(match.group(1), 16)
     if codepoint > sys.maxunicode:
         codepoint = 0xFFFD
-    return _unichr(codepoint)
+    return codepoint_to_chr(codepoint)
 
 
 def unescape_ident(value):
diff --git a/src/odf/attrconverters.py b/src/odf/attrconverters.py
index e09b0f5caf..1ebc173961 100644
--- a/src/odf/attrconverters.py
+++ b/src/odf/attrconverters.py
@@ -29,7 +29,7 @@ def make_NCName(arg):
     return arg
 
 def cnv_anyURI(attribute, arg, element):
-    return unicode(arg)
+    return type(u'')(arg)
 
 def cnv_boolean(attribute, arg, element):
     if arg.lower() in ("false","no"):
@@ -85,13 +85,13 @@ def cnv_family(attribute, arg, element):
 def __save_prefix(attribute, arg, element):
     prefix = arg.split(':',1)[0]
     if prefix == arg:
-        return unicode(arg)
+        return type(u'')(arg)
     namespace = element.get_knownns(prefix)
     if namespace is None:
         #raise ValueError, "'%s' is an unknown prefix" % str(prefix)
-        return unicode(arg)
+        return type(u'')(arg)
     p = element.get_nsprefix(namespace)
-    return unicode(arg)
+    return type(u'')(arg)
 
 def cnv_formula(attribute, arg, element):
     """ A string containing a formula. Formulas do not have a predefined syntax, but the string should
@@ -218,7 +218,7 @@ def cnv_positiveInteger(attribute, arg, element):
     return str(arg)
 
 def cnv_string(attribute, arg, element):
-    return unicode(arg)
+    return type(u'')(arg)
 
 def cnv_textnoteclass(attribute, arg, element):
     if str(arg) not in ("footnote", "endnote"):
@@ -1480,5 +1480,4 @@ class AttrConverters:
             conversion = attrconverters.get((attribute, None), None)
             if conversion is not None:
                 return conversion(attribute, value, element)
-        return unicode(value)
-
+        return type(u'')(value)
diff --git a/src/odf/element.py b/src/odf/element.py
index 7b9310a2aa..b0a4b3d406 100644
--- a/src/odf/element.py
+++ b/src/odf/element.py
@@ -182,7 +182,7 @@ class Node(xml.dom.Node):
     def __unicode__(self):
         val = []
         for c in self.childNodes:
-            val.append(unicode(c))
+            val.append(type(u'')(c))
         return u''.join(val)
 
 defproperty(Node, "firstChild", doc="First child node, or None.")
@@ -253,8 +253,8 @@ class Text(Childless, Node):
     def toXml(self,level,f):
         """ Write XML in UTF-8 """
         if self.data:
-            f.write(_escape(unicode(self.data).encode('utf-8')))
-    
+            f.write(_escape(type(u'')(self.data).encode('utf-8')))
+
 class CDATASection(Childless, Text):
     nodeType = Node.CDATA_SECTION_NODE
 
@@ -283,7 +283,7 @@ class Element(Node):
                          Node.TEXT_NODE,
                          Node.CDATA_SECTION_NODE,
                          Node.ENTITY_REFERENCE_NODE)
-    
+
     def __init__(self, attributes=None, text=None, cdata=None, qname=None, qattributes=None, check_grammar=True, **args):
         if qname is not None:
             self.qname = qname
@@ -334,7 +334,7 @@ class Element(Node):
         for ns,p in nsdict.items():
             if p == prefix: return ns
         return None
-        
+
     def get_nsprefix(self, namespace):
         """ Odfpy maintains a list of known namespaces. In some cases we have a namespace URL,
             and needs to look up or assign the prefix for it.
@@ -352,7 +352,7 @@ class Element(Node):
         element.ownerDocument = self.ownerDocument
         for child in element.childNodes:
             self._setOwnerDoc(child)
-        
+
     def addElement(self, element, check_grammar=True):
         """ adds an element to an Element
 
@@ -469,7 +469,7 @@ class Element(Node):
                 f.write(' xmlns:' + prefix + '="'+ _escape(str(namespace))+'"')
         for qname in self.attributes.keys():
             prefix = self.get_nsprefix(qname[0])
-            f.write(' '+_escape(str(prefix+':'+qname[1]))+'='+_quoteattr(unicode(self.attributes[qname]).encode('utf-8')))
+            f.write(' '+_escape(str(prefix+':'+qname[1]))+'='+_quoteattr(type(u'')(self.attributes[qname]).encode('utf-8')))
         f.write('>')
 
     def write_close_tag(self, level, f):
@@ -483,7 +483,7 @@ class Element(Node):
                 f.write(' xmlns:' + prefix + '="'+ _escape(str(namespace))+'"')
         for qname in self.attributes.keys():
             prefix = self.get_nsprefix(qname[0])
-            f.write(' '+_escape(str(prefix+':'+qname[1]))+'='+_quoteattr(unicode(self.attributes[qname]).encode('utf-8')))
+            f.write(' '+_escape(str(prefix+':'+qname[1]))+'='+_quoteattr(type(u'')(self.attributes[qname]).encode('utf-8')))
         if self.childNodes:
             f.write('>')
             for element in self.childNodes:
@@ -509,5 +509,3 @@ class Element(Node):
         """ This is a check to see if the object is an instance of a type """
         obj = element(check_grammar=False)
         return self.qname == obj.qname
-
-
diff --git a/src/odf/odf2xhtml.py b/src/odf/odf2xhtml.py
index 99b3279207..9f1e763551 100644
--- a/src/odf/odf2xhtml.py
+++ b/src/odf/odf2xhtml.py
@@ -55,6 +55,7 @@ if False:  # Added by Kovid
 # character etc. styles Since CSS2 has no scope we use a prefix. (Not elegant)
 # In ODF a style can have a parent, these parents can be chained.
 
+
 class StyleToCSS:
 
     """ The purpose of the StyleToCSS class is to contain the rules to convert
@@ -317,6 +318,7 @@ class TagStack:
             if attr in attrs:
                 return attrs[attr]
         return None
+
     def count_tags(self, tag):
         c = 0
         for ttag, tattrs in self.stack:
@@ -324,6 +326,7 @@ class TagStack:
                 c = c + 1
         return c
 
+
 special_styles = {
    'S-Emphasis':'em',
    'S-Citation':'cite',
@@ -352,6 +355,8 @@ special_styles = {
 # ODFCONTENTHANDLER
 #
 # -----------------------------------------------------------------------------
+
+
 class ODF2XHTML(handler.ContentHandler):
 
     """ The ODF2XHTML parses an ODF file and produces XHTML"""
@@ -625,9 +630,6 @@ class ODF2XHTML(handler.ContentHandler):
             self.anchors[name] = "anchor%d" % (len(self.anchors) + 1)
         return self.anchors.get(name)
 
-
-# --------------------------------------------------
-
     def purgedata(self):
         self.data = []
 
@@ -1457,7 +1459,7 @@ dl.notes dd:last-of-type { page-break-after: avoid }
 #        self.writeout( escape(mark) )
         # Since HTML only knows about endnotes, there is too much risk that the
         # marker is reused in the source. Therefore we force numeric markers
-        self.writeout(unicode(self.currentnote))
+        self.writeout(type(u'')(self.currentnote))
         self.closetag('a')
         self.closetag('sup')
 
@@ -1566,12 +1568,11 @@ dl.notes dd:last-of-type { page-break-after: avoid }
         self.writedata()
         self.purgedata()
 
-
-# -----------------------------------------------------------------------------
-#
-# Reading the file
-#
-# -----------------------------------------------------------------------------
+    # -----------------------------------------------------------------------------
+    #
+    # Reading the file
+    #
+    # -----------------------------------------------------------------------------
 
     def load(self, odffile):
         """ Loads a document into the parser and parses it.
@@ -1593,7 +1594,7 @@ dl.notes dd:last-of-type { page-break-after: avoid }
                 self._walknode(c)
             self.endElementNS(node.qname, node.tagName)
         if node.nodeType == Node.TEXT_NODE or node.nodeType == Node.CDATA_SECTION_NODE:
-            self.characters(unicode(node))
+            self.characters(type(u'')(node))
 
     def odf2xhtml(self, odffile):
         """ Load a file and return the XHTML
diff --git a/src/tinycss/tests/__init__.py b/src/tinycss/tests/__init__.py
index bbdfb51d47..3cf59a1077 100644
--- a/src/tinycss/tests/__init__.py
+++ b/src/tinycss/tests/__init__.py
@@ -8,10 +8,6 @@ __copyright__ = '2014, Kovid Goyal <kovid at kovidgoyal.net>'
 
 import unittest
 
-try:
-    unicode
-except NameError:
-    unicode = str
 
 def jsonify(tokens):
     """Turn tokens into "JSON-compatible" data structures."""
@@ -24,6 +20,7 @@ def jsonify(tokens):
         else:
             yield token.type, token.value
 
+
 class BaseTest(unittest.TestCase):
 
     longMessage = True
@@ -34,10 +31,8 @@ class BaseTest(unittest.TestCase):
         """Test not complete error messages but only substrings."""
         self.ae(len(errors), len(expected_errors))
         for error, expected in zip(errors, expected_errors):
-            self.assertIn(expected, unicode(error))
+            self.assertIn(expected, type(u'')(error))
 
     def jsonify_declarations(self, rule):
         return [(decl.name, list(jsonify(decl.value)))
                 for decl in rule.declarations]
-
-