1 files changed, 5 insertions, 0 deletions
diff --git a/numpy/lib/npyio.py b/numpy/lib/npyio.py
index 096f1a3a4..73613d2a4 100644
--- a/numpy/lib/npyio.py
+++ b/numpy/lib/npyio.py
@@ -1109,6 +1109,11 @@ def loadtxt(fname, dtype=float, comments='#', delimiter=None,
     finally:
         if fown:
             fh.close()
+        # recursive closures have a cyclic reference to themselves, which
+        # requires gc to collect (gh-10620). To avoid this problem, for
+        # performance and PyPy friendliness, we break the cycle:
+        flatten_dtype_internal = None
+        pack_items = None
 
     if X is None:
         X = np.array([], dtype)