diff --git a/Source/cmExportPackageInfoGenerator.cxx b/Source/cmExportPackageInfoGenerator.cxx
index bd3db81ace..1376a45f0b 100644
--- a/Source/cmExportPackageInfoGenerator.cxx
+++ b/Source/cmExportPackageInfoGenerator.cxx
@@ -63,6 +63,16 @@ void cmExportPackageInfoGenerator::WritePackageInfo(
 }
 
 namespace {
+bool SetProperty(Json::Value& object, std::string const& property,
+                 std::string const& value)
+{
+  if (!value.empty()) {
+    object[property] = value;
+    return true;
+  }
+  return false;
+}
+
 template <typename T>
 void BuildArray(Json::Value& object, std::string const& property,
                 T const& values)
@@ -105,14 +115,9 @@ Json::Value cmExportPackageInfoGenerator::GeneratePackageInfo() const
   package["name"] = this->GetPackageName();
   package["cps_version"] = std::string(kCPS_VERSION_STR);
 
-  if (!this->PackageVersion.empty()) {
-    package["version"] = this->PackageVersion;
-    if (!this->PackageVersionCompat.empty()) {
-      package["compat_version"] = this->PackageVersionCompat;
-    }
-    if (!this->PackageVersionSchema.empty()) {
-      package["version_schema"] = this->PackageVersionSchema;
-    }
+  if (SetProperty(package, "version", this->PackageVersion)) {
+    SetProperty(package, "compat_version", this->PackageVersionCompat);
+    SetProperty(package, "version_schema", this->PackageVersionSchema);
   }
 
   BuildArray(package, "default_components", this->DefaultTargets);
diff --git a/Source/cmPackageInfoArguments.cxx b/Source/cmPackageInfoArguments.cxx
index f9eac81f27..c53d57eb76 100644
--- a/Source/cmPackageInfoArguments.cxx
+++ b/Source/cmPackageInfoArguments.cxx
@@ -4,6 +4,8 @@
 
 #include <utility>
 
+#include <cm/string_view>
+
 #include "cmExecutionStatus.h"
 #include "cmGeneratorExpression.h"
 #include "cmMakefile.h"
@@ -118,16 +120,19 @@ bool cmPackageInfoArguments::SetMetadataFromProject(cmExecutionStatus& status)
   }
 
   cmMakefile& mf = status.GetMakefile();
+  auto mapProjectValue = [&](std::string& arg, cm::string_view suffix) {
+    cmValue const& projectValue =
+      mf.GetDefinition(cmStrCat(this->ProjectName, '_', suffix));
+    if (projectValue) {
+      arg = *projectValue;
+      return true;
+    }
+    return false;
+  };
+
   if (this->Version.empty()) {
-    cmValue const& version =
-      mf.GetDefinition(cmStrCat(this->ProjectName, "_VERSION"_s));
-    if (version) {
-      this->Version = version;
-      cmValue const& compatVersion =
-        mf.GetDefinition(cmStrCat(this->ProjectName, "_COMPAT_VERSION"_s));
-      if (compatVersion) {
-        this->VersionCompat = compatVersion;
-      }
+    if (mapProjectValue(this->Version, "VERSION"_s)) {
+      mapProjectValue(this->VersionCompat, "COMPAT_VERSION"_s);
     }
   }