diff --git a/pubs/bibstruct.py b/pubs/bibstruct.py
index ee98b10..9b85728 100644
--- a/pubs/bibstruct.py
+++ b/pubs/bibstruct.py
@@ -1,12 +1,11 @@
 import unicodedata
 import re
 
-from .p3 import ustr, unichr
+from .p3 import ustr, uchr
 
     # citekey stuff
 
-CONTROL_CHARS = ''.join(map(unichr,
-                            list(range(0, 32)) + list(range(127, 160))))
+CONTROL_CHARS = ''.join(map(uchr, list(range(0, 32)) + list(range(127, 160))))
 CITEKEY_FORBIDDEN_CHARS = '@\'\\,#}{~%/'  # '/' is OK for bibtex but forbidden
 # here since we transform citekeys into filenames
 CITEKEY_EXCLUDE_RE = re.compile('[%s]'
diff --git a/pubs/p3.py b/pubs/p3.py
index ed9c406..9257eab 100644
--- a/pubs/p3.py
+++ b/pubs/p3.py
@@ -5,6 +5,7 @@ if sys.version_info[0] == 2:
     import StringIO as io
     input = raw_input
     ustr = unicode
+    uchr = unichr
     from urlparse import urlparse
     from urllib2 import urlopen
     from httplib import HTTPConnection
@@ -12,12 +13,11 @@ else:
     import configparser
     import io
     ustr = str
+    uchr = chr
     from urllib.parse import urlparse
     from urllib.request import urlopen
     from http.client import HTTPConnection
-    unichr = chr
 
 configparser = configparser
 io = io
 input = input
-unichr = unichr