diff --git a/Modules/_cursesmodule.c b/Modules/_cursesmodule.c
index 37ba95da65c..430ab1751c4 100644
--- a/Modules/_cursesmodule.c
+++ b/Modules/_cursesmodule.c
@@ -2466,7 +2466,7 @@ PyCurses_tigetflag(PyObject *self, PyObject *args)
 
 	PyCursesSetupTermCalled;
 		
-	if (!PyArg_ParseTuple(args, "z", &capname))
+	if (!PyArg_ParseTuple(args, "s", &capname))
 		return NULL;
 
 	return PyInt_FromLong( (long) tigetflag( capname ) );
@@ -2479,7 +2479,7 @@ PyCurses_tigetnum(PyObject *self, PyObject *args)
 
 	PyCursesSetupTermCalled;
 		
-	if (!PyArg_ParseTuple(args, "z", &capname))
+	if (!PyArg_ParseTuple(args, "s", &capname))
 		return NULL;
 
 	return PyInt_FromLong( (long) tigetnum( capname ) );
@@ -2492,7 +2492,7 @@ PyCurses_tigetstr(PyObject *self, PyObject *args)
 
 	PyCursesSetupTermCalled;
 		
-	if (!PyArg_ParseTuple(args, "z", &capname))
+	if (!PyArg_ParseTuple(args, "s", &capname))
 		return NULL;
 
 	capname = tigetstr( capname );