diff --git a/Lib/test/test_cookie.py b/Lib/test/test_cookie.py
index 65b0645f235..3e80b6f2127 100644
--- a/Lib/test/test_cookie.py
+++ b/Lib/test/test_cookie.py
@@ -23,9 +23,7 @@
     C = Cookie.SimpleCookie() ; C.load(data)
     print repr(C)
     print str(C)
-    items = dict.items()
-    items.sort()
-    for k, v in items:
+    for k, v in sorted(dict.iteritems()):
         print ' ', k, repr( C[k].value ), repr(v)
         verify(C[k].value == v)
         print C[k]