diff --git a/CMakeLists.txt b/CMakeLists.txt
index 35b48770..d0285be0 100644
--- a/CMakeLists.txt
+++ b/CMakeLists.txt
@@ -43,17 +43,13 @@ if (POLICY CMP0054)
 endif(POLICY CMP0054)
 
 # Read version information from configure.ac.
-FILE(READ "${CMAKE_CURRENT_SOURCE_DIR}/configure.ac" configure)
-STRING(REGEX REPLACE ";" "\\\\;" configure "${configure}")
-STRING(REGEX REPLACE "\n" ";" configure "${configure}")
+FILE(STRINGS "${CMAKE_CURRENT_SOURCE_DIR}/configure.ac" configure REGEX "^LIBTIFF_.*=")
 foreach(line ${configure})
   foreach(var LIBTIFF_MAJOR_VERSION LIBTIFF_MINOR_VERSION LIBTIFF_MICRO_VERSION LIBTIFF_ALPHA_VERSION
           LIBTIFF_CURRENT LIBTIFF_REVISION LIBTIFF_AGE)
-    if(NOT ${var})
-      string(REGEX MATCH "^${var}=(.*)" ${var}_MATCH "${line}")
-      if(${var}_MATCH)
-        string(REGEX REPLACE "^${var}=(.*)" "\\1" ${var} "${line}")
-      endif()
+    if(NOT ${var} AND line MATCHES "^${var}=(.*)")
+      set(${var} "${CMAKE_MATCH_1}")
+      break()
     endif()
   endforeach()
 endforeach()