It reads each line of the script file, waiting for a newline on standard input to proceed. After receiving a newline, it prints the next line of of the script and also feeds it to a single running command instance, which prints the output of the command to standard output. Thus script serves as a way to control the sequential input to the command and thus supervise its activities.

The argument file is in whatever format the command normally accepts. Comments, in whatever single-line form the command accepts, will be passed to the command but can serve as documentation during execution. There is no facility to send more than one line of input at a time.

Normally the user types an empty line to proceed, advancing to the next line of the script. But a non-empty line is passed to the command without advanding the script, allowing the user to inject extra commands.