diff --git a/pathod/utils.py b/pathod/utils.py
index 0cc77ab2f..8c6d62902 100644
--- a/pathod/utils.py
+++ b/pathod/utils.py
@@ -2,7 +2,7 @@ import os
 import sys
 import netlib.utils
 
-import six
+from netlib.utils import bytes_to_escaped_str
 
 
 SIZE_UNITS = dict(
@@ -55,27 +55,13 @@ def xrepr(s):
     return repr(s)[1:-1]
 
 
-def inner_repr(s):
-    """
-        Returns the inner portion of a string or unicode repr (i.e. without the
-        quotes)
-    """
-    if (six.PY2 and isinstance(s, unicode)) or isinstance(s, bytes):
-        return repr(s)[2:-1]
-    else:
-        return repr(s)[1:-1]
-
-
 def escape_unprintables(s):
     """
         Like inner_repr, but preserves line breaks.
     """
-    s = s.replace("\r\n", "PATHOD_MARKER_RN")
-    s = s.replace("\n", "PATHOD_MARKER_N")
-    if six.PY2:
-        s = inner_repr(s)
-    else:
-        s = s.encode('unicode_escape').decode('ascii')
+    s = s.replace(b"\r\n", b"PATHOD_MARKER_RN")
+    s = s.replace(b"\n", b"PATHOD_MARKER_N")
+    s = bytes_to_escaped_str(s)
     s = s.replace("PATHOD_MARKER_RN", "\n")
     s = s.replace("PATHOD_MARKER_N", "\n")
     return s
diff --git a/test/pathod/test_utils.py b/test/pathod/test_utils.py
index 4e891ad9d..32ba3bdf1 100644
--- a/test/pathod/test_utils.py
+++ b/test/pathod/test_utils.py
@@ -1,6 +1,8 @@
 from pathod import utils
 import tutils
 
+import six
+
 
 def test_membool():
     m = utils.MemBool()
@@ -27,14 +29,8 @@ def test_data_path():
     tutils.raises(ValueError, utils.data.path, "nonexistent")
 
 
-def test_inner_repr():
-    assert utils.inner_repr("\x66") == "\x66"
-    assert utils.inner_repr(u"foo") == "foo"
-    assert utils.inner_repr(b"foo") == "foo"
-
-
 def test_escape_unprintables():
     s = "".join([chr(i) for i in range(255)])
-    e = utils.escape_unprintables(s)
+    e = utils.escape_unprintables(six.b(s))
     assert e.encode('ascii')
-    assert not "PATHOD_MARKER" in e
+    assert "PATHOD_MARKER" not in e