diff --git a/src/diffpy/srxconfutils/config.py b/src/diffpy/srxconfutils/config.py
index c508365..3b672de 100644
--- a/src/diffpy/srxconfutils/config.py
+++ b/src/diffpy/srxconfutils/config.py
@@ -225,7 +225,7 @@ def _findConfigFile(self, filename=None, args=None, **kwargs):
             if ('--configfile' in args) or ('-c' in args):
                 obj = self.args.parse_args(args)
                 rv = obj.configfile
-        if kwargs.has_key('configfile'):
+        if 'configfile' in kwargs:
             rv = kwargs['configfile']
         return rv
 
@@ -314,7 +314,7 @@ class method, return the type of option
         :return: string, type of the option 
         '''
         optdata = cls._optdata[optname]
-        if optdata.has_key('t'):
+        if 't' in optdata:
             opttype = optdata['t']
         else:
             value = optdata['d']
@@ -394,7 +394,7 @@ def _addOptC(cls, optname):
         cls._addOptSelfC(optname, optdata)
 
         # add to cls.config
-        secname = optdata['sec'] if optdata.has_key('sec') else 'Others'
+        secname = optdata['sec'] if 'sec' in optdata else 'Others'
         cls._configlist[secname].append(optname)
         if optdata.get('config', 'a') != 'n':
             strvalue = ', '.join(map(str, optdata['d'])) if isinstance(optdata['d'], list) else str(optdata['d'])
@@ -404,14 +404,14 @@ def _addOptC(cls, optname):
             # transform optdata to a dict that can pass to add_argument method
             pargs = dict()
             for key in optdata.keys():
-                if cls._optdatanamedict.has_key(key):
+                if key in cls._optdatanamedict:
                     pargs[cls._optdatanamedict[key]] = optdata[key]
             pargs['default'] = argparse.SUPPRESS
             pargs['type'] = StrConv(opttype)
             # add args
-            if optdata.has_key('f'):
+            if 'f' in optdata:
                 cls.args.add_argument(optname, **pargs)
-            elif optdata.has_key('s'):
+            elif 's' in optdata:
                 cls.args.add_argument('--' + optname, '-' + optdata['s'], **pargs)
             else:
                 cls.args.add_argument('--' + optname, **pargs)
@@ -443,7 +443,7 @@ def _copyConfigtoSelf(self, optnames=None):
                 optnames += self.config.options(secname)
 
         for optname in optnames:
-            if self._optdata.has_key(optname):
+            if optname in self._optdata:
                 secname = self._optdata[optname]['sec']
                 opttype = self._getTypeStr(optname)
                 optvalue = self.config.get(secname, optname)
@@ -465,7 +465,7 @@ def _copySelftoConfig(self, optnames=None):
                 optnames += self.config.options(secname)
 
         for optname in optnames:
-            if self._optdata.has_key(optname):
+            if optname in self._optdata:
                 secname = self._optdata[optname]['sec']
                 opttype = self._getTypeStr(optname)
                 optvalue = getattr(self, optname)
@@ -484,7 +484,7 @@ def parseArgs(self, pargs):
         obj = self.args.parse_args(pargs)
         changedargs = obj.__dict__.keys()
         for optname in changedargs:
-            if self._optdata.has_key(optname):
+            if optname in self._optdata:
                 setattr(self, optname, getattr(obj, optname))
         # update self
         if len(changedargs) > 0:
@@ -500,7 +500,7 @@ def parseKwargs(self, **kwargs):
         if kwargs != {}:
             changedargs = []
             for optname, optvalue in kwargs.iteritems():
-                if self._optdata.has_key(optname):
+                if optname in self._optdata:
                     setattr(self, optname, optvalue)
                     changedargs.append(optname)
             # update self
@@ -669,7 +669,7 @@ def resetDefault(self, optnames=None):
         if optnames == None:
             optnames = self._optdata.keys()
         for optname in optnames:
-            if self._optdata.has_key(optname):
+            if optname in self._optdata:
                 setattr(self, optname, self._optdata[optname]['d'])
         self._updateSelf()
         return
@@ -687,7 +687,7 @@ class to add options as class attributes!!!
         '''
         cls._preInitConfigClass()
 
-        cls.config = ConfigParser.ConfigParser(dict_type=OrderedDict)
+        cls.config = ConfigParser(dict_type=OrderedDict)
         cls.args = argparse.ArgumentParser(description=cls._description,
                                               epilog=cls._epilog,
                                               formatter_class=argparse.RawDescriptionHelpFormatter)
diff --git a/src/diffpy/srxconfutils/configtraits.py b/src/diffpy/srxconfutils/configtraits.py
index 502f63e..0262dec 100644
--- a/src/diffpy/srxconfutils/configtraits.py
+++ b/src/diffpy/srxconfutils/configtraits.py
@@ -235,11 +235,11 @@ class method, assign options value to *self.option*, using metadata,
         vtype = cls._getTypeStrC(optname)
         ttype = optdata.get('tt', vtype)
         ttype = cls._traitstypedict[ttype]
-        kwargs = {'label':optdata['l'] if optdata.has_key('l') else optname, 
+        kwargs = {'label':optdata['l'] if 'l' in optdata else optname, 
                   'desc':optdata['h'],
                   }
         args = [optdata['d']]
-        if optdata.has_key('c'):
+        if 'c' in optdata:
             ttype = Enum
             args = [optdata['c']]
             kwargs['value']=optdata['d']