diff --git a/_pytest/python.py b/_pytest/python.py
index 590b1afe1..1bed796d1 100644
--- a/_pytest/python.py
+++ b/_pytest/python.py
@@ -1417,7 +1417,7 @@ class approx(object):
 
     def __repr__(self):
         from collections import Iterable
-        utf_8 = lambda s: s.encode('utf-8') if sys.version_info.major == 2 else s
+        utf_8 = lambda s: s.encode('utf-8') if sys.version_info[0] == 2 else s
         plus_minus = lambda x: utf_8(u'{0} \u00b1 {1:.1e}'.format(x, self._get_margin(x)))
 
         if isinstance(self.expected, Iterable):