diff --git a/bin/duckduckgo b/bin/duckduckgo
index 9da45945..fd296bdd 100755
--- a/bin/duckduckgo
+++ b/bin/duckduckgo
@@ -1,16 +1,5 @@
 #!/usr/bin/env bash
 
-urlencode() {
-    local LANG=C
-    for ((i=0;i<${#1};i++)); do
-        if [[ ${1:$i:1} =~ ^[a-zA-Z0-9\.\~\_\-]$ ]]; then
-            printf "${1:$i:1}"
-        else
-            printf '%%%02X' "'${1:$i:1}"
-        fi
-    done
-}
-
-query=$(urlencode "$*")
+query=$(urlencode <<< "$*")
 echo "Opening https://duckduckgo.com/?q=$query"
 open "https://duckduckgo.com/?q=$query"
diff --git a/bin/urlencode b/bin/urlencode
index db976837..c7bfd08a 100755
--- a/bin/urlencode
+++ b/bin/urlencode
@@ -1,7 +1,12 @@
 #!/usr/bin/env python
-import os, sys, urllib
-if os.isatty(file.fileno(sys.stdin)):
-    text = sys.argv[1]
+import sys
+try:
+    from urllib.parse import quote_plus
+except ImportError:
+    from urllib import quote_plus
+
+if sys.argv[1:]:
+    text = " ".join(sys.argv[1:])
 else:
     text = "".join(sys.stdin.readlines())
-print(urllib.quote_plus(text.strip()))
+print(quote_plus(text.strip()))