Made following enhancements:

duckduckgo.py

@@ -1,6 +1,4 @@
-import urllib
-import urllib2
-import json as j
+import requests
 import sys
 
 __version__ = 0.242
@@ -39,24 +37,24 @@ def query(query, useragent='python-duckduckgo '+str(__version__), safesearch=Tru
         'no_html': html,
         'd': meanings,
         }
+    url = 'https://api.duckduckgo.com'
     params.update(kwargs)
-    encparams = urllib.urlencode(params)
-    url = 'http://api.duckduckgo.com/?' + encparams
-
-    request = urllib2.Request(url, headers={'User-Agent': useragent})
-    response = urllib2.urlopen(request)
-    json = j.loads(response.read())
-    response.close()
-
+    json = requests.get(
+        url,
+        params=params,
+        headers={'User-Agent': useragent}
+    ).json()
     return Results(json)
 
 
 class Results(object):
 
     def __init__(self, json):
-        self.type = {'A': 'answer', 'D': 'disambiguation',
-                     'C': 'category', 'N': 'name',
-                     'E': 'exclusive', '': 'nothing'}.get(json.get('Type',''), '')
+        self.type = {
+            'A': 'answer', 'D': 'disambiguation',
+            'C': 'category', 'N': 'name',
+            'E': 'exclusive', '': 'nothing'
+        }.get(json.get('Type',''), '')
 
         self.json = json
         self.api_version = None # compat
@@ -131,7 +129,7 @@ def get_zci(q, web_fallback=True, priority=['answer', 'abstract', 'related.0', '
     '''A helper method to get a single (and hopefully the best) ZCI result.
     priority=list can be used to set the order in which fields will be checked for answers.
     Use web_fallback=True to fall back to grabbing the first web result.
-    passed to query. This method will fall back to 'Sorry, no results.' 
+    passed to query. This method will fall back to 'Sorry, no results.'
     if it cannot find anything.'''
 
     ddg = query('\\'+q, **kwargs)
@@ -143,13 +141,13 @@ def get_zci(q, web_fallback=True, priority=['answer', 'abstract', 'related.0', '
         index = int(ps[1]) if len(ps) > 1 else None
 
         result = getattr(ddg, type)
-        if index is not None: 
+        if index is not None:
             if not hasattr(result, '__getitem__'): raise TypeError('%s field is not indexable' % type)
             result = result[index] if len(result) > index else None
         if not result: continue
 
         if result.text: response = result.text
-        if result.text and hasattr(result,'url') and urls: 
+        if result.text and hasattr(result,'url') and urls:
             if result.url: response += ' (%s)' % result.url
         if response: break
 
@@ -159,21 +157,28 @@ def get_zci(q, web_fallback=True, priority=['answer', 'abstract', 'related.0', '
             response = ddg.redirect.url
 
     # final fallback
-    if not response: 
+    if not response:
         response = 'Sorry, no results.'
 
     return response
 
 def main():
     if len(sys.argv) > 1:
         q = query(' '.join(sys.argv[1:]))
-        keys = q.json.keys()
+        keys = list(q.json.keys())
         keys.sort()
+        if sys.version_info >= (3,0,0):
+            tmp = [str, str]
+        else:
+            tmp = [str, unicode]
         for key in keys:
             sys.stdout.write(key)
-            if type(q.json[key]) in [str,unicode]: print(':', q.json[key])
-            else: 
+            if type(q.json[key]) in tmp: print(':', q.json[key])
+            else:
                 sys.stdout.write('\n')
                 for i in q.json[key]: print('\t',i)
     else:
         print('Usage: %s [query]' % sys.argv[0])
+
+if __name__ == '__main__':
+    main()

requirements.txt

@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+requests