diff --git a/tools/cpplint.py b/tools/cpplint.py
index a4f786f01a941f..a0f67a4ca8bc49 100644
--- a/tools/cpplint.py
+++ b/tools/cpplint.py
@@ -53,6 +53,11 @@
 import sys
 import unicodedata
 
+try:
+  xrange
+except NameError:
+  xrange = range
+
 
 logger = logging.getLogger('testrunner')