GH-142267: Cache formatter to avoid repeated _set_color calls

Lib/argparse.py

@@ -1,5 +1,4 @@
 # Author: Steven J. Bethard <steven.bethard@gmail.com>.
-# New maintainer as of 29 August 2019:  Raymond Hettinger <raymond.hettinger@gmail.com>
 
 """Command-line parsing library
 
@@ -1570,8 +1569,8 @@ def add_argument(self, *args, **kwargs):
                             f'instance of it must be passed')
 
         # raise an error if the metavar does not match the type
-        if hasattr(self, "_get_formatter"):
-            formatter = self._get_formatter()
+        if hasattr(self, "_get_validation_formatter"):
+            formatter = self._get_validation_formatter()
             try:
                 formatter._format_args(action, None)
             except TypeError:
@@ -1765,8 +1764,8 @@ def _handle_conflict_resolve(self, action, conflicting_actions):
                 action.container._remove_action(action)
 
     def _check_help(self, action):
-        if action.help and hasattr(self, "_get_formatter"):
-            formatter = self._get_formatter()
+        if action.help and hasattr(self, "_get_validation_formatter"):
+            formatter = self._get_validation_formatter()
             try:
                 formatter._expand_help(action)
             except (ValueError, TypeError, KeyError) as exc:
@@ -1921,6 +1920,9 @@ def __init__(self,
         self.suggest_on_error = suggest_on_error
         self.color = color
 
+        # Cached formatter for validation (avoids repeated _set_color calls)
+        self._cached_formatter = None
+
         add_group = self.add_argument_group
         self._positionals = add_group(_('positional arguments'))
         self._optionals = add_group(_('options'))
@@ -2752,6 +2754,13 @@ def _get_formatter(self):
         formatter._set_color(self.color)
         return formatter
 
+    def _get_validation_formatter(self):
+        # Return cached formatter for read-only validation operations
+        # (_expand_help and _format_args). Avoids repeated _set_color calls.
+        if self._cached_formatter is None:
+            self._cached_formatter = self._get_formatter()
+        return self._cached_formatter
+
     # =====================
     # Help-printing methods
     # =====================

Misc/NEWS.d/next/Library/2025-12-04-23-26-12.gh-issue-142267.yOM6fP.rst

@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+Improve :mod:`argparse` performance by caching the formatter used for argument validation.