The software engine that drives Phantom scripts is the Phantom interpreter.  The Phantom interpreter is the engine that parses and processes the commands in a Phantom script.  The interpreter tracks all windows used by the script, as well as the window declarations, variables, user functions, errors, and output. Scripts are sent to the interpreter via an interface such as phantom.exe and Phantom Sidekick.

The interpreter finds the window to process based upon the command structure. It then passes information to that window dependant upon the function being called. See Functions for more detail.

The following example illustrates the use of the default interface 'phantom.exe'.  The command is typed in directly in the DOS prompt.

Example:

phantom.exe test.psc

Where 'phantom.exe' is the interface, 'test.psc' is the script, and 'test.log' is the output file (DOS version only) created by the script. Any messages from the script are printed directly to the DOS screen.

If the script parameter is omitted, Phantom runs in console mode. For a list of possible arguments for phantom.exe, see Arguments.