diff --git a/src/conf/cpu_conf.c b/src/conf/cpu_conf.c
index 98b309b0f9..11ad5f41dc 100644
--- a/src/conf/cpu_conf.c
+++ b/src/conf/cpu_conf.c
@@ -86,10 +86,8 @@ virCPUDefFree(virCPUDefPtr def)
 
     virCPUDefFreeModel(def);
 
-    for (i = 0; i < def->ncells; i++) {
+    for (i = 0; i < def->ncells; i++)
         virBitmapFree(def->cells[i].cpumask);
-        VIR_FREE(def->cells[i].cpustr);
-    }
     VIR_FREE(def->cells);
     VIR_FREE(def->vendor_id);
 
@@ -162,9 +160,6 @@ virCPUDefCopy(const virCPUDef *cpu)
 
             if (!copy->cells[i].cpumask)
                 goto error;
-
-            if (VIR_STRDUP(copy->cells[i].cpustr, cpu->cells[i].cpustr) < 0)
-                goto error;
         }
         copy->cells_cpus = cpu->cells_cpus;
     }
@@ -601,16 +596,21 @@ virCPUDefFormatBuf(virBufferPtr buf,
         virBufferAdjustIndent(buf, 2);
         for (i = 0; i < def->ncells; i++) {
             virMemAccess memAccess = def->cells[i].memAccess;
+            char *cpustr = NULL;
+
+            if (!(cpustr = virBitmapFormat(def->cells[i].cpumask)))
+                return -1;
 
             virBufferAddLit(buf, "<cell");
             virBufferAsprintf(buf, " id='%zu'", i);
-            virBufferAsprintf(buf, " cpus='%s'", def->cells[i].cpustr);
+            virBufferAsprintf(buf, " cpus='%s'", cpustr);
             virBufferAsprintf(buf, " memory='%llu'", def->cells[i].mem);
             virBufferAddLit(buf, " unit='KiB'");
             if (memAccess)
                 virBufferAsprintf(buf, " memAccess='%s'",
                                   virMemAccessTypeToString(memAccess));
             virBufferAddLit(buf, "/>\n");
+            VIR_FREE(cpustr);
         }
         virBufferAdjustIndent(buf, -2);
         virBufferAddLit(buf, "</numa>\n");
diff --git a/src/conf/cpu_conf.h b/src/conf/cpu_conf.h
index e201656205..d6efba71f7 100644
--- a/src/conf/cpu_conf.h
+++ b/src/conf/cpu_conf.h
@@ -104,7 +104,6 @@ typedef struct _virCellDef virCellDef;
 typedef virCellDef *virCellDefPtr;
 struct _virCellDef {
     virBitmapPtr cpumask; /* CPUs that are part of this node */
-    char *cpustr;         /* CPUs stored in string form for dumpxml */
     unsigned long long mem;     /* Node memory in kB */
     virMemAccess memAccess;
 };
diff --git a/src/conf/numa_conf.c b/src/conf/numa_conf.c
index 8879c16711..9284969950 100644
--- a/src/conf/numa_conf.c
+++ b/src/conf/numa_conf.c
@@ -749,9 +749,7 @@ virDomainNumaDefCPUParseXML(virCPUDefPtr def,
         if (ncpus <= 0)
             goto cleanup;
         def->cells_cpus += ncpus;
-
-        def->cells[cur_cell].cpustr = tmp;
-        tmp = NULL;
+        VIR_FREE(tmp);
 
         ctxt->node = nodes[i];
         if (virDomainParseMemory("./@memory", "./@unit", ctxt,
diff --git a/tests/qemuxml2argvdata/qemuxml2argv-numatune-memnode.xml b/tests/qemuxml2argvdata/qemuxml2argv-numatune-memnode.xml
index 8912017a03..73dfdf587f 100644
--- a/tests/qemuxml2argvdata/qemuxml2argv-numatune-memnode.xml
+++ b/tests/qemuxml2argvdata/qemuxml2argv-numatune-memnode.xml
@@ -17,7 +17,7 @@
     <numa>
       <cell id='0' cpus='0' memory='20002' unit='KiB'/>
       <cell id='1' cpus='1-27,29' memory='660066' unit='KiB'/>
-      <cell id='2' cpus='28-31,^29' memory='24002400' unit='KiB'/>
+      <cell id='2' cpus='28,30-31' memory='24002400' unit='KiB'/>
     </numa>
   </cpu>
   <clock offset='utc'/>
diff --git a/tests/qemuxml2xmloutdata/qemuxml2xmlout-numatune-memnode.xml b/tests/qemuxml2xmloutdata/qemuxml2xmlout-numatune-memnode.xml
index ffc57cf57d..75421252a5 100644
--- a/tests/qemuxml2xmloutdata/qemuxml2xmlout-numatune-memnode.xml
+++ b/tests/qemuxml2xmloutdata/qemuxml2xmlout-numatune-memnode.xml
@@ -17,7 +17,7 @@
     <numa>
       <cell id='0' cpus='0' memory='20002' unit='KiB'/>
       <cell id='1' cpus='1-27,29' memory='660066' unit='KiB'/>
-      <cell id='2' cpus='28-31,^29' memory='24002400' unit='KiB'/>
+      <cell id='2' cpus='28,30-31' memory='24002400' unit='KiB'/>
     </numa>
   </cpu>
   <clock offset='utc'/>