diff --git a/tests/test-mq-missingfiles.t b/tests/test-mq-missingfiles.t
--- a/tests/test-mq-missingfiles.t
+++ b/tests/test-mq-missingfiles.t
@@ -5,10 +5,7 @@
 
   $ cat > writelines.py <<EOF
   > import sys
-  > if sys.version_info[0] >= 3:
-  >     encode = lambda x: x.encode('utf-8').decode('unicode_escape').encode('utf-8')
-  > else:
-  >     encode = lambda x: x.decode('string_escape')
+  > encode = lambda x: x.encode('utf-8').decode('unicode_escape').encode('utf-8')
   > path = sys.argv[1]
   > args = sys.argv[2:]
   > assert (len(args) % 2) == 0
diff --git a/tests/test-mq-qimport.t b/tests/test-mq-qimport.t
--- a/tests/test-mq-qimport.t
+++ b/tests/test-mq-qimport.t
@@ -1,9 +1,6 @@
   $ cat > writelines.py <<EOF
   > import sys
-  > if sys.version_info[0] >= 3:
-  >     encode = lambda x: x.encode('utf-8').decode('unicode_escape').encode('utf-8')
-  > else:
-  >     encode = lambda x: x.decode('string_escape')
+  > encode = lambda x: x.encode('utf-8').decode('unicode_escape').encode('utf-8')
   > path = sys.argv[1]
   > args = sys.argv[2:]
   > assert (len(args) % 2) == 0
diff --git a/tests/test-notify.t b/tests/test-notify.t
--- a/tests/test-notify.t
+++ b/tests/test-notify.t
@@ -2,14 +2,13 @@
   > import io
   > import re
   > import sys
-  > if sys.version_info[0] >= 3:
-  >     sys.stdout = io.TextIOWrapper(
-  >         sys.stdout.buffer,
-  >         sys.stdout.encoding,
-  >         sys.stdout.errors,
-  >         newline="\n",
-  >         line_buffering=sys.stdout.line_buffering,
-  >     )
+  > sys.stdout = io.TextIOWrapper(
+  >     sys.stdout.buffer,
+  >     sys.stdout.encoding,
+  >     sys.stdout.errors,
+  >     newline="\n",
+  >     line_buffering=sys.stdout.line_buffering,
+  > )
   > print(re.sub("\n[ \t]", " ", sys.stdin.read()), end="")
   > EOF