diff --git a/.gitignore b/.gitignore
index 83b0806af9dad..5121fcfb8d7b4 100644
--- a/.gitignore
+++ b/.gitignore
@@ -40,3 +40,6 @@ nips2010_pdf/
 
 examples/cluster/joblib
 benchmarks/bench_covertype_data/
+
+*.prefs
+.pydevproject
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/sklearn/datasets/svmlight_format.py b/sklearn/datasets/svmlight_format.py
index fbd87b6763271..8fd9ca7e8cb94 100644
--- a/sklearn/datasets/svmlight_format.py
+++ b/sklearn/datasets/svmlight_format.py
@@ -28,6 +28,7 @@
 from .. import __version__
 from ..externals import six
 from ..utils import atleast2d_or_csr
+from ..externals.six import u
 
 
 def load_svmlight_file(f, n_features=None, dtype=np.float64,
@@ -229,18 +230,18 @@ def load_svmlight_files(files, n_features=None, dtype=np.float64,
 def _dump_svmlight(X, y, f, one_based, comment, query_id):
     is_sp = int(hasattr(X, "tocsr"))
     if X.dtype == np.float64:
-        value_pattern = u"%d:%0.16e"
+        value_pattern = u("%d:%0.16e")
     else:
-        value_pattern = u"%d:%f"
+        value_pattern = u("%d:%f")
 
     if y.dtype.kind == 'i':
-        line_pattern = u"%d"
+        line_pattern = u("%d")
     else:
-        line_pattern = u"%f"
+        line_pattern = u("%f")
 
     if query_id is not None:
-        line_pattern += u" qid:%d"
-    line_pattern += u" %s\n"
+        line_pattern += u(" qid:%d")
+    line_pattern += u(" %s\n")
 
     if comment:
         f.write("# Generated by dump_svmlight_file from scikit-learn %s\n"