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url: /statelake/scripting-reference/functions-and-procedures/com-functions.md
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# COM Functions

**COM** is an acronym for **Component Object Model**.

**COM** is a platform-independent, object-oriented system for creating reusable software component libraries that can interact.at run time, without having to be compiled into your code.

The following **COM** functions are available that enable you to work with **COM** objects.

Use these functions to instantiate the **COM** object, and then use the properties of that **COM** object.

The returned reference should be stored in a variable of **variant** data type. See [Variant](/statelake/scripting-reference/data-types/variant) for more information.

Your **COM** object references will be released from memory automatically - you do not need to delete or "free" them in your script.