diff --git a/docs/settings.rst b/docs/settings.rst
index aef9f674..4d09ec4c 100644
--- a/docs/settings.rst
+++ b/docs/settings.rst
@@ -712,7 +712,7 @@ Metadata
 
    The default metadata you want to use for all articles and pages.
 
-.. data:: FILENAME_METADATA = '(?P<date>\d{4}-\d{2}-\d{2}).*'
+.. data:: FILENAME_METADATA = r'(?P<date>\d{4}-\d{2}-\d{2}).*'
 
    The regexp that will be used to extract any metadata from the filename. All
    named groups that are matched will be set in the metadata object.  The
@@ -720,7 +720,7 @@ Metadata
 
    For example, to extract both the date and the slug::
 
-      FILENAME_METADATA = '(?P<date>\d{4}-\d{2}-\d{2})_(?P<slug>.*)'
+      FILENAME_METADATA = r'(?P<date>\d{4}-\d{2}-\d{2})_(?P<slug>.*)'
 
    See also ``SLUGIFY_SOURCE``.
 
diff --git a/pelican/__init__.py b/pelican/__init__.py
index 69332706..fa636bb0 100644
--- a/pelican/__init__.py
+++ b/pelican/__init__.py
@@ -111,10 +111,10 @@ class Pelican(object):
             structure = self.settings['ARTICLE_PERMALINK_STRUCTURE']
 
             # Convert %(variable) into {variable}.
-            structure = re.sub('%\((\w+)\)s', '{\g<1>}', structure)
+            structure = re.sub(r'%\((\w+)\)s', '{\g<1>}', structure)
 
             # Convert %x into {date:%x} for strftime
-            structure = re.sub('(%[A-z])', '{date:\g<1>}', structure)
+            structure = re.sub(r'(%[A-z])', '{date:\g<1>}', structure)
 
             # Strip a / prefix
             structure = re.sub('^/', '', structure)
diff --git a/pelican/readers.py b/pelican/readers.py
index a620a1e8..afc0c4bf 100644
--- a/pelican/readers.py
+++ b/pelican/readers.py
@@ -650,9 +650,9 @@ def parse_path_metadata(source_path, settings=None, process=None):
     ...     settings=settings,
     ...     process=reader.process_metadata)
     >>> pprint.pprint(metadata)  # doctest: +ELLIPSIS
-    {'category': <pelican.urlwrappers.Category object at ...>,
-     'date': SafeDatetime(2013, 1, 1, 0, 0),
-     'slug': 'my-slug'}
+    ... {'category': <pelican.urlwrappers.Category object at ...>,
+    ...  'date': SafeDatetime(2013, 1, 1, 0, 0),
+    ...  'slug': 'my-slug'}
     """
     metadata = {}
     dirname, basename = os.path.split(source_path)
diff --git a/pelican/rstdirectives.py b/pelican/rstdirectives.py
index def67cc7..b4f44aa1 100644
--- a/pelican/rstdirectives.py
+++ b/pelican/rstdirectives.py
@@ -75,7 +75,7 @@ directives.register_directive('code-block', Pygments)
 directives.register_directive('sourcecode', Pygments)
 
 
-_abbr_re = re.compile('\((.*)\)$', re.DOTALL)
+_abbr_re = re.compile(r'\((.*)\)$', re.DOTALL)
 
 
 class abbreviation(nodes.Inline, nodes.TextElement):
diff --git a/pelican/settings.py b/pelican/settings.py
index 1b0bd67d..99840119 100644
--- a/pelican/settings.py
+++ b/pelican/settings.py
@@ -121,7 +121,7 @@ DEFAULT_CONFIG = {
     'DEFAULT_PAGINATION': False,
     'DEFAULT_ORPHANS': 0,
     'DEFAULT_METADATA': {},
-    'FILENAME_METADATA': '(?P<date>\d{4}-\d{2}-\d{2}).*',
+    'FILENAME_METADATA': r'(?P<date>\d{4}-\d{2}-\d{2}).*',
     'PATH_METADATA': '',
     'EXTRA_PATH_METADATA': {},
     'DEFAULT_STATUS': 'published',
diff --git a/pelican/utils.py b/pelican/utils.py
index a521d3a8..ef9da23b 100644
--- a/pelican/utils.py
+++ b/pelican/utils.py
@@ -305,8 +305,8 @@ def slugify(value, substitutions=()):
             replace = replace and not skip
 
     if replace:
-        value = re.sub('[^\w\s-]', '', value).strip()
-        value = re.sub('[-\s]+', '-', value)
+        value = re.sub(r'[^\w\s-]', '', value).strip()
+        value = re.sub(r'[-\s]+', '-', value)
     else:
         value = value.strip()