diff --git a/src/_pytest/_code/_py2traceback.py b/src/_pytest/_code/_py2traceback.py
deleted file mode 100644
index 68c44afda..000000000
--- a/src/_pytest/_code/_py2traceback.py
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,87 +0,0 @@
-# copied from python-2.7.3's traceback.py
-# CHANGES:
-# - some_str is replaced, trying to create unicode strings
-#
-import types
-
-
-def format_exception_only(etype, value):
-    """Format the exception part of a traceback.
-
-    The arguments are the exception type and value such as given by
-    sys.last_type and sys.last_value. The return value is a list of
-    strings, each ending in a newline.
-
-    Normally, the list contains a single string; however, for
-    SyntaxError exceptions, it contains several lines that (when
-    printed) display detailed information about where the syntax
-    error occurred.
-
-    The message indicating which exception occurred is always the last
-    string in the list.
-
-    """
-
-    # An instance should not have a meaningful value parameter, but
-    # sometimes does, particularly for string exceptions, such as
-    # >>> raise string1, string2  # deprecated
-    #
-    # Clear these out first because issubtype(string1, SyntaxError)
-    # would throw another exception and mask the original problem.
-    if (
-        isinstance(etype, BaseException)
-        or isinstance(etype, types.InstanceType)
-        or etype is None
-        or type(etype) is str
-    ):
-        return [_format_final_exc_line(etype, value)]
-
-    stype = etype.__name__
-
-    if not issubclass(etype, SyntaxError):
-        return [_format_final_exc_line(stype, value)]
-
-    # It was a syntax error; show exactly where the problem was found.
-    lines = []
-    try:
-        msg, (filename, lineno, offset, badline) = value.args
-    except Exception:
-        pass
-    else:
-        filename = filename or "<string>"
-        lines.append('  File "{}", line {}\n'.format(filename, lineno))
-        if badline is not None:
-            if isinstance(badline, bytes):  # python 2 only
-                badline = badline.decode("utf-8", "replace")
-            lines.append("    {}\n".format(badline.strip()))
-            if offset is not None:
-                caretspace = badline.rstrip("\n")[:offset].lstrip()
-                # non-space whitespace (likes tabs) must be kept for alignment
-                caretspace = ((c.isspace() and c or " ") for c in caretspace)
-                # only three spaces to account for offset1 == pos 0
-                lines.append("   {}^\n".format("".join(caretspace)))
-        value = msg
-
-    lines.append(_format_final_exc_line(stype, value))
-    return lines
-
-
-def _format_final_exc_line(etype, value):
-    """Return a list of a single line -- normal case for format_exception_only"""
-    valuestr = _some_str(value)
-    if value is None or not valuestr:
-        line = "{}\n".format(etype)
-    else:
-        line = "{}: {}\n".format(etype, valuestr)
-    return line
-
-
-def _some_str(value):
-    try:
-        return str(value)
-    except Exception:
-        try:
-            return bytes(value).decode("UTF-8", "replace")
-        except Exception:
-            pass
-    return "<unprintable {} object>".format(type(value).__name__)