diff --git a/Help/release/dev/faster-parsers.rst b/Help/release/dev/faster-parsers.rst
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..c2a8bfb36
--- /dev/null
+++ b/Help/release/dev/faster-parsers.rst
@@ -0,0 +1,6 @@
+faster-parsers
+--------------
+
+* The :manual:`cmake-language(7)` internal implementation of generator
+  expression and list expansion parsers have been optimized and shows
+  non-trivial speedup on large projects.
diff --git a/Source/cmGeneratorExpression.cxx b/Source/cmGeneratorExpression.cxx
index 2e66d7822..cd3054614 100644
--- a/Source/cmGeneratorExpression.cxx
+++ b/Source/cmGeneratorExpression.cxx
@@ -157,17 +157,24 @@ cmCompiledGeneratorExpression::~cmCompiledGeneratorExpression()
 std::string cmGeneratorExpression::StripEmptyListElements(
                                                     const std::string &input)
 {
+  if (input.find(';') == input.npos)
+    {
+    return input;
+    }
   std::string result;
+  result.reserve(input.size());
 
   const char *c = input.c_str();
+  const char *last = c;
   bool skipSemiColons = true;
   for ( ; *c; ++c)
     {
-    if(c[0] == ';')
+    if(*c == ';')
       {
       if(skipSemiColons)
         {
-        continue;
+        result.append(last, c - last);
+        last = c + 1;
         }
       skipSemiColons = true;
       }
@@ -175,8 +182,8 @@ std::string cmGeneratorExpression::StripEmptyListElements(
       {
       skipSemiColons = false;
       }
-    result += *c;
     }
+  result.append(last);
 
   if (!result.empty() && *(result.end() - 1) == ';')
     {
diff --git a/Source/cmGeneratorExpressionLexer.cxx b/Source/cmGeneratorExpressionLexer.cxx
index cd71ec033..117a24e09 100644
--- a/Source/cmGeneratorExpressionLexer.cxx
+++ b/Source/cmGeneratorExpressionLexer.cxx
@@ -42,42 +42,42 @@ cmGeneratorExpressionLexer::Tokenize(const char *input)
   const char *upto = c;
 
   for ( ; *c; ++c)
-  {
-  if(c[0] == '$' && c[1] == '<')
     {
-    InsertText(upto, c, result);
-    upto = c;
-    result.push_back(cmGeneratorExpressionToken(
-                      cmGeneratorExpressionToken::BeginExpression, upto, 2));
-    upto = c + 2;
-    ++c;
-    SawBeginExpression = true;
-    }
-  else if(c[0] == '>')
-    {
-    InsertText(upto, c, result);
-    upto = c;
-    result.push_back(cmGeneratorExpressionToken(
-                        cmGeneratorExpressionToken::EndExpression, upto, 1));
-    upto = c + 1;
-    SawGeneratorExpression = SawBeginExpression;
-    }
-  else if(c[0] == ':')
-    {
-    InsertText(upto, c, result);
-    upto = c;
-    result.push_back(cmGeneratorExpressionToken(
-                        cmGeneratorExpressionToken::ColonSeparator, upto, 1));
-    upto = c + 1;
-    }
-  else if(c[0] == ',')
-    {
-    InsertText(upto, c, result);
-    upto = c;
-    result.push_back(cmGeneratorExpressionToken(
-                        cmGeneratorExpressionToken::CommaSeparator, upto, 1));
-    upto = c + 1;
-    }
+    switch(*c)
+      {
+      case '$':
+        if(c[1] == '<')
+          {
+          InsertText(upto, c, result);
+          result.push_back(cmGeneratorExpressionToken(
+                           cmGeneratorExpressionToken::BeginExpression, c, 2));
+          upto = c + 2;
+          ++c;
+          SawBeginExpression = true;
+          }
+        break;
+      case '>':
+        InsertText(upto, c, result);
+        result.push_back(cmGeneratorExpressionToken(
+                            cmGeneratorExpressionToken::EndExpression, c, 1));
+        upto = c + 1;
+        SawGeneratorExpression = SawBeginExpression;
+        break;
+      case ':':
+        InsertText(upto, c, result);
+        result.push_back(cmGeneratorExpressionToken(
+                            cmGeneratorExpressionToken::ColonSeparator, c, 1));
+        upto = c + 1;
+        break;
+      case ',':
+        InsertText(upto, c, result);
+        result.push_back(cmGeneratorExpressionToken(
+                            cmGeneratorExpressionToken::CommaSeparator, c, 1));
+        upto = c + 1;
+        break;
+      default:
+        break;
+      }
   }
   InsertText(upto, c, result);
 
diff --git a/Source/cmSystemTools.cxx b/Source/cmSystemTools.cxx
index ff0597563..7cc63bbdf 100644
--- a/Source/cmSystemTools.cxx
+++ b/Source/cmSystemTools.cxx
@@ -1044,7 +1044,7 @@ void cmSystemTools::ExpandListArgument(const std::string& arg,
                                        bool emptyArgs)
 {
   // If argument is empty, it is an empty list.
-  if(arg.length() == 0 && !emptyArgs)
+  if(!emptyArgs && arg.empty())
     {
     return;
     }
@@ -1054,10 +1054,11 @@ void cmSystemTools::ExpandListArgument(const std::string& arg,
     newargs.push_back(arg);
     return;
     }
-  std::vector<char> newArgVec;
+  std::string newArg;
+  const char *last = arg.c_str();
   // Break the string at non-escaped semicolons not nested in [].
   int squareNesting = 0;
-  for(const char* c = arg.c_str(); *c; ++c)
+  for(const char* c = last; *c; ++c)
     {
     switch(*c)
       {
@@ -1065,34 +1066,21 @@ void cmSystemTools::ExpandListArgument(const std::string& arg,
         {
         // We only want to allow escaping of semicolons.  Other
         // escapes should not be processed here.
-        ++c;
-        if(*c == ';')
+        const char* next = c + 1;
+        if(*next == ';')
           {
-          newArgVec.push_back(*c);
-          }
-        else
-          {
-          newArgVec.push_back('\\');
-          if(*c)
-            {
-            newArgVec.push_back(*c);
-            }
-          else
-            {
-            // Terminate the loop properly.
-            --c;
-            }
+          newArg.append(last, c - last);
+          // Skip over the escape character
+          last = c = next;
           }
         } break;
       case '[':
         {
         ++squareNesting;
-        newArgVec.push_back(*c);
         } break;
       case ']':
         {
         --squareNesting;
-        newArgVec.push_back(*c);
         } break;
       case ';':
         {
@@ -1100,31 +1088,28 @@ void cmSystemTools::ExpandListArgument(const std::string& arg,
         // brackets.
         if(squareNesting == 0)
           {
-          if ( newArgVec.size() || emptyArgs )
+          newArg.append(last, c - last);
+          // Skip over the semicolon
+          last = c + 1;
+          if ( !newArg.empty() || emptyArgs )
             {
             // Add the last argument if the string is not empty.
-            newArgVec.push_back(0);
-            newargs.push_back(&*newArgVec.begin());
-            newArgVec.clear();
+            newargs.push_back(newArg);
+            newArg = "";
             }
           }
-        else
-          {
-          newArgVec.push_back(*c);
-          }
         } break;
       default:
         {
         // Just append this character.
-        newArgVec.push_back(*c);
         } break;
       }
     }
-  if ( newArgVec.size() || emptyArgs )
+  newArg.append(last);
+  if ( !newArg.empty() || emptyArgs )
     {
     // Add the last argument if the string is not empty.
-    newArgVec.push_back(0);
-    newargs.push_back(&*newArgVec.begin());
+    newargs.push_back(newArg);
     }
 }