diff --git a/cli/util.py b/cli/util.py
index e207c46..81cd483 100644
--- a/cli/util.py
+++ b/cli/util.py
@@ -1,3 +1,6 @@
+import os
+import tempfile
+
 def make_result_dict(cursor, row):
     d = {}
     for i in xrange(len(row)):
@@ -82,9 +85,9 @@ def run_editor(filename):
     else:
         exit("Error: %s: File does not exist!" % filename)
 
-def write_tmpfile(pfix='', content=''):
+def write_tmpfile(pfix, content, encoding='utf8'):
     file = tempfile.NamedTemporaryFile(prefix=pfix+'-', dir='/tmp', delete=False)
-    file.write(content.encode(file_encoding))
+    file.write(content.encode(encoding))
     name = file.name
     file.close()
     return name