diff --git a/IPython/external/Itpl.py b/IPython/external/Itpl.py
index ea98172..671e9ab 100644
--- a/IPython/external/Itpl.py
+++ b/IPython/external/Itpl.py
@@ -75,7 +75,6 @@ each time the instance is evaluated with str(instance).  For example:
 __author__  = 'Ka-Ping Yee <ping@lfw.org>'
 __license__ = 'MIT'
 
-import string
 import sys
 from tokenize import tokenprog
 
diff --git a/IPython/external/pexpect.py b/IPython/external/pexpect.py
index 260c1d8..b2c0fe8 100644
--- a/IPython/external/pexpect.py
+++ b/IPython/external/pexpect.py
@@ -66,7 +66,6 @@ $Id: pexpect.py 507 2007-12-27 02:40:52Z noah $
 try:
     import os, sys, time
     import select
-    import string
     import re
     import struct
     import resource
@@ -1778,8 +1777,7 @@ def which (filename):
 
     # Oddly enough this was the one line that made Pexpect
     # incompatible with Python 1.5.2.
-    #pathlist = p.split (os.pathsep)
-    pathlist = string.split (p, os.pathsep)
+    pathlist = p.split(os.pathsep)
 
     for path in pathlist:
         f = os.path.join(path, filename)