diff --git a/CMakeLists.txt b/CMakeLists.txt
index 0c40e3c6f7d1170443abe2a93c07f75527b18b49..0a44e56719baa433a5c45df2082fa86296b3da1c 100644
--- a/CMakeLists.txt
+++ b/CMakeLists.txt
@@ -69,7 +69,7 @@ include(coveralls)
 find_package(Git REQUIRED)
 # version.cmake will get the current PADDLE_VERSION
 include(version)
-add_definitions(-DPADDLE_VERSION=\"${PADDLE_VERSION}\")
+add_definitions(-DPADDLE_VERSION=${PADDLE_VERSION})
 
 if(NOT WITH_GPU)
     add_definitions(-DPADDLE_ONLY_CPU)
diff --git a/paddle/utils/Version.cpp b/paddle/utils/Version.cpp
index e706983918b4a865f6674a34083ef0143bd6e185..ed4ae6115f9775416161d48ad2f9e98d598f3cde 100644
--- a/paddle/utils/Version.cpp
+++ b/paddle/utils/Version.cpp
@@ -33,7 +33,11 @@ void printVersion(std::ostream& os) {
 #ifndef PADDLE_VERSION
 #define PADDLE_VERSION "unknown"
 #endif
-  os << "paddle version: " << PADDLE_VERSION << std::endl
+// converts macro to string https://gcc.gnu.org/onlinedocs/cpp/Stringification.html
+#define xstr(s) str(s)
+#define str(s) #s
+
+  os << "paddle version: " << str(PADDLE_VERSION) << std::endl
      << std::boolalpha << "\t"
      << "withGpu: " << version::isWithGpu() << std::endl
      << "\t"