diff --git a/Atomic/Export.py b/Atomic/Export.py
index 60908e8..5691331 100644
--- a/Atomic/Export.py
+++ b/Atomic/Export.py
@@ -2,7 +2,6 @@
 export docker images, containers and volumes into a filesystem directory.
 """
 import os
-import sys
 
 from .client import AtomicDocker
 from . import util
@@ -21,10 +20,11 @@ def export_docker(graph, export_location, force):
     dangling_images = AtomicDocker().images(filters={"dangling":True}, quiet=True)
     if any(dangling_images):
         if not force:
-            util.write_out("There are dangling images in your system. Would you like atomic to prune them [y/N]")
-            choice = sys.stdin.read(1)
-            if choice.lower() == 'n':
+            choice = util.input("There are dangling images in your system. Would you like atomic to prune them [y/N]")
+            choice = choice.strip().lower()
+            if not choice in ['y', 'yes']:
                 raise ValueError("Please delete dangling images before running atomic storage export")
+
         util.write_out("Deleting dangling images")
         util.check_call([util.default_docker(), "rmi", "-f"]+dangling_images)
 
diff --git a/Atomic/Import.py b/Atomic/Import.py
index 9d9a3eb..c22b1af 100644
--- a/Atomic/Import.py
+++ b/Atomic/Import.py
@@ -25,10 +25,10 @@ def import_docker(graph, import_location):
     import_volumes(graph, import_location)
 
     util.write_out("atomic import completed successfully")
-    util.write_out("Would you like to cleanup (rm -rf {0}) the temporary directory [y/N]"
+    confirm = util.input("Would you like to cleanup (rm -rf {0}) the temporary directory [y/N]"
                   .format(import_location))
-    choice = sys.stdin.read(1)
-    if choice.lower() == 'y':
+    confirm = confirm.strip().lower()
+    if confirm in ['y', 'yes']:
         util.write_out("Deleting {0}".format(import_location))
         util.check_call(['/usr/bin/rm', '-rf', import_location])
     util.write_out("Please restart docker daemon for the changes to take effect")
diff --git a/Atomic/atomic.py b/Atomic/atomic.py
index 07c4efd..83a59e9 100644
--- a/Atomic/atomic.py
+++ b/Atomic/atomic.py
@@ -401,7 +401,7 @@ class Atomic(object):
     def _check_latest(self):
         inspect = self._inspect_image()
         if inspect and inspect["Id"] != self.inspect["Image"]:
-            sys.stdout.write(
+            util.write_out(
                 "The '%(name)s' container is using an older version of the "
                 "installed\n'%(image)s' container image. If you wish to use "
                 "the newer image,\nyou must either create a new container "
diff --git a/Atomic/delete.py b/Atomic/delete.py
index e6cb00a..27cc2b4 100644
--- a/Atomic/delete.py
+++ b/Atomic/delete.py
@@ -19,7 +19,7 @@ class Delete(Atomic):
             confirm = util.input("Do you wish to delete {}? (y/N) ".format(self.args.delete_targets))
             confirm = confirm.strip().lower()
             if not confirm in ['y', 'yes']:
-                sys.stderr.write("User aborted delete operation for {}\n".format(self.args.delete_targets))
+                util.write_err("User aborted delete operation for {}".format(self.args.delete_targets))
                 sys.exit(2)
 
         if self.args.remote_delete:
@@ -65,7 +65,7 @@ class Delete(Atomic):
                 util.skopeo_delete(img, args)
                 util.write_out("Image {} marked for deletion".format(img))
             except ValueError as e:
-                sys.stderr.write("Failed to mark Image {} for deletion: {}\n".format(img, e))
+                util.write_err("Failed to mark Image {} for deletion: {}".format(img, e))
                 results = 2
         return results
 
@@ -75,9 +75,9 @@ class Delete(Atomic):
             try:
                 self.d.remove_image(target)
             except NotFound as e:
-                sys.stderr.write("Failed to delete Image {}: {}\n".format(target, e))
+                util.write_err("Failed to delete Image {}: {}".format(target, e))
                 results = 2
             except APIError as e:
-                sys.stderr.write("Failed operation for delete Image {}: {}\n".format(target, e))
+                util.write_err("Failed operation for delete Image {}: {}".format(target, e))
                 results = 2
         return results
diff --git a/Atomic/diff.py b/Atomic/diff.py
index 2e43b0b..651c68a 100644
--- a/Atomic/diff.py
+++ b/Atomic/diff.py
@@ -88,7 +88,7 @@ class DiffHelpers(object):
             except mount.SelectionMatchError as e:
                 if len(image_list) > 0:
                     DiffHelpers.cleanup(image_list)
-                sys.stderr.write("{}\n".format(e))
+                util.write_err("{}".format(e))
                 sys.exit(1)
         return image_list
 
diff --git a/Atomic/mount.py b/Atomic/mount.py
index 5efc9c5..df1411c 100644
--- a/Atomic/mount.py
+++ b/Atomic/mount.py
@@ -219,7 +219,7 @@ class Mount(Atomic):
             rc, result_stdout, result_stderr = util.subp(['umount', path])
             if rc == 0:
                 return rc, result_stdout, result_stderr
-            sys.stderr.write("Warning: {}\nRetrying {}/{} to unmount {}\n"
+            util.write_err("Warning: {}\nRetrying {}/{} to unmount {}"
                              .format(result_stderr, x+1, timeout, path))
             time.sleep(1)
         raise ValueError("Unable to unmount {0} due to {1}".format(path, result_stderr))
@@ -641,7 +641,7 @@ def getxattrfuncs():
     else:
         try:
             import xattr #pylint: disable=import-error
-            module = xattr 
+            module = xattr
         except ImportError:
             pass
 
diff --git a/Atomic/pulp.py b/Atomic/pulp.py
index 95fba16..f484488 100644
--- a/Atomic/pulp.py
+++ b/Atomic/pulp.py
@@ -1,5 +1,4 @@
 import os
-import sys
 import json
 try:
     import ConfigParser as configparser
@@ -97,7 +96,7 @@ class PulpServer(object):
             return r_json
 
         if 'error_message' in r_json:
-            sys.stderr.write('Error messages from Pulp response:\n{0}'
+            util.write_err('Error messages from Pulp response:\n{0}'
                              ''.format(r_json['error_message']))
 
         if 'spawned_tasks' in r_json:
@@ -188,8 +187,7 @@ class PulpServer(object):
                 break
             url = '{0}/pulp/api/v2/content/uploads/{1}/{2}/' \
                   ''.format(self._server_url, upload_id, offset)
-            sys.stdout.flush()
-            sys.stdout.write(".")
+            util.write_out(".", "")
             self._call_pulp(url, "put", data)
             offset += self._chunk_size
             image_stream.close()
diff --git a/Atomic/satellite.py b/Atomic/satellite.py
index 83b7d38..8a41000 100644
--- a/Atomic/satellite.py
+++ b/Atomic/satellite.py
@@ -1,5 +1,4 @@
 import os
-import sys
 import json
 try:
     import ConfigParser as configparser
@@ -135,7 +134,7 @@ class SatelliteServer(object):
             return None
 
         if ('errors' in r_json):
-            sys.stderr.write('Error message from Satellite response:\n{0}\n'
+            util.write_err('Error message from Satellite response:\n{0}'
                              .format(r_json['errors']))
         if 'spawned_tasks' in r_json:
             for task in r_json['spawned_tasks']:
@@ -219,8 +218,7 @@ class SatelliteServer(object):
             if not content:
                 break
             url = "{0}/katello/api/repositories/{1}/content_uploads/{2}".format(self._server_url, repo_id, upload_id)
-            sys.stdout.flush()
-            sys.stdout.write(".")
+            util.write_out(".", "")
             payload = {
                 'offset': offset,
                 'content': content
diff --git a/Atomic/util.py b/Atomic/util.py
index 088c162..9421c08 100644
--- a/Atomic/util.py
+++ b/Atomic/util.py
@@ -131,13 +131,22 @@ def default_ro_container_context():
         return selinux.getfilecon("/usr")[1]
     return ""
 
-def write_out(output, lf="\n"):
-    sys.stdout.flush()
-    if is_python2:
-        sys.stdout.write(output.encode('utf-8') + lf)
-    else:
-        sys.stdout.write(output + str(lf))
 
+def write_out(output, lf="\n"):
+    _output(sys.stdout, output, lf)
+
+
+def write_err(output, lf="\n"):
+    _output(sys.stderr, output, lf)
+
+
+def _output(fd, output, lf):
+    fd.flush()
+
+    if is_python2:
+        fd.write(output.encode('utf-8') + lf)
+    else:
+        fd.write(output + str(lf))
 
 def output_json(json_data):
     ''' Pretty print json data '''
diff --git a/atomic b/atomic
index eee3345..b5b6e4e 100755
--- a/atomic
+++ b/atomic
@@ -39,7 +39,7 @@ from Atomic.help import AtomicHelp
 from Atomic.run import Run
 from Atomic.ps import Ps
 from Atomic.storage import Storage
-from Atomic.util import get_scanners, default_docker_lib, NoDockerDaemon
+from Atomic.util import get_scanners, default_docker_lib, write_err, NoDockerDaemon
 import traceback
 from Atomic.mount import MountError
 
@@ -60,8 +60,8 @@ except IOError:
 class HelpByDefaultArgumentParser(argparse.ArgumentParser):
 
     def error(self, message):
-        sys.stderr.write('%s: %s\n' % (sys.argv[0], message))
-        sys.stderr.write("Try '%s --help' for more information.\n" % self.prog)
+        write_err('%s: %s' % (sys.argv[0], message))
+        write_err("Try '%s --help' for more information." % self.prog)
         sys.exit(2)
 
 
@@ -678,12 +678,12 @@ if __name__ == '__main__':
     except KeyboardInterrupt:
         sys.exit(0)
     except (ValueError, IOError, docker.errors.DockerException, NoDockerDaemon) as e:
-        sys.stderr.write("%s\n" % str(e))
+        write_err("%s" % str(e))
         if os.geteuid() != 0:
             need_root()
         sys.exit(1)
     except subprocess.CalledProcessError as e:
-        sys.stderr.write("\n")
+        write_err("")
         sys.exit(e.returncode)
     except AttributeError:
         # python3 throws exception on no args to atomic
@@ -693,10 +693,10 @@ if __name__ == '__main__':
         if str(e).find("Permission denied") > 0:
             need_root()
         else:
-            sys.stderr.write("%s\n" % str(e))
+            write_err("%s" % str(e))
         sys.exit(1)
     except Exception as e: # pylint: disable=broad-except
-        sys.stderr.write("%s\n" % str(e))
+        write_err("%s" % str(e))
         sys.exit(1)
     except SystemExit as e:
         # Overriding debug args to avoid a traceback from sys.exit()