GNU Parallel: How to unquote `;` so can run multiple commands?

Question

How do I run multiple commands with the --quote/-q option?

For example, this quotes the ;:

$ parallel --dry-run -q command1 {1} \; command2 ::: "With a space" "Another space" "Yet more spaces" "WithoutASpace" 
command1 'With a space' ';' command2
command1 'Another space' ';' command2
command1 'Yet more spaces' ';' command2

¿How do I unquote it so that it runs:

command1 'With a space' ; command2
command1 'Another space' ; command2
command1 'Yet more spaces' ; command2

^{I know my MWE here probably doesn't need -q, but when I have more complicated commands with arguments that need quotes, I ran into the issue that single quotes Parallel put were "leaking" through into the text passed to the command.}

Answer 1

You have already given the solution: remove -q, and addressed the problem, that this raises:

when I have more complicated commands

https://www.gnu.org/software/parallel/man.html#quoting says:

Conclusion: If this is confusing consider avoiding having to deal with quoting by writing a small script or a function (remember to export -f the function) and have GNU parallel call that.

You can still use GNU Parallel to generate the arguments.

So:

doit() {
  echo "$1" "$2" "$3"
  # You can put comments in the code
  echo do complex stuff here
}
export -f doit
parallel doit {1/} {1.} {2} ::: */* ::: "double  space" "triple   space" "    4 spc"

IMHO it often improves readability, too.