diff --git a/Lib/tempfile.py b/Lib/tempfile.py
index ae2b77ff431..3b21ff29353 100644
--- a/Lib/tempfile.py
+++ b/Lib/tempfile.py
@@ -201,7 +201,7 @@ def _get_default_tempdir():
                 del fp, fd
                 return dir
             except (OSError, IOError) as e:
-                if e[0] != _errno.EEXIST:
+                if e.args[0] != _errno.EEXIST:
                     break # no point trying more names in this directory
                 pass
     raise IOError(_errno.ENOENT,