diff --git a/paddle/fluid/pybind/pybind.cc b/paddle/fluid/pybind/pybind.cc
index 58ef3da0b2312d2286ec2f92fdd7fa1f82ca4027..9d92529e4eef62884a3bcf499ea41cef15c76756 100644
--- a/paddle/fluid/pybind/pybind.cc
+++ b/paddle/fluid/pybind/pybind.cc
@@ -298,6 +298,8 @@ PYBIND11_MODULE(core, m) {
       .def("get_tensor",
            [](SelectedRows &self) { return self.mutable_value(); },
            py::return_value_policy::reference)
+      .def("numel",
+           [](SelectedRows &self) -> int64_t { return self.value().numel(); })
       .def("set_height", &SelectedRows::set_height)
       .def("height", &SelectedRows::height)
       .def("set_rows",
diff --git a/python/paddle/fluid/tests/unittests/test_split_selected_rows_op.py b/python/paddle/fluid/tests/unittests/test_split_selected_rows_op.py
index 50204b8a77c187aa695da83860960566448d290f..f8847e1570dc47d432777faa15f4004f1a7111a6 100644
--- a/python/paddle/fluid/tests/unittests/test_split_selected_rows_op.py
+++ b/python/paddle/fluid/tests/unittests/test_split_selected_rows_op.py
@@ -63,6 +63,7 @@ class TestSpliteSelectedRows(unittest.TestCase):
         # expected output selected rows
         expected_out0_rows = [0, 4]
         expected_out1_rows = [0, 2]
+        expected_out2_rows = []
         expected_out4_rows = [0]
 
         op = Operator(
@@ -75,6 +76,7 @@ class TestSpliteSelectedRows(unittest.TestCase):
 
         self.assertEqual(outs[0].rows(), expected_out0_rows)
         self.assertEqual(outs[1].rows(), expected_out1_rows)
+        self.assertEqual(outs[2].rows(), expected_out2_rows)
         self.assertEqual(outs[4].rows(), expected_out4_rows)
 
         self.assertEqual(outs[0].height(), height_sections[0])
@@ -84,6 +86,9 @@ class TestSpliteSelectedRows(unittest.TestCase):
         self.assertAlmostEqual(4.0, np.array(outs[1].get_tensor())[1, 1])
         self.assertAlmostEqual(8.0, np.array(outs[4].get_tensor())[0, 1])
 
+        self.assertEqual(outs[2].numel(), 0)
+        self.assertEqual(outs[3].numel(), 0)
+
     def check_grad_with_place(self, place):
         scope = core.Scope()
         height = 10