diff --git a/main/Main.scala b/main/Main.scala
index 0de72a4cc..47222277b 100644
--- a/main/Main.scala
+++ b/main/Main.scala
@@ -262,7 +262,7 @@ object BuiltinCommands
 	}
 
 	def multiParser(s: State): Parser[Seq[String]] =
-		( token(';' ~> OptSpace) flatMap { _ => matched(s.combinedParser | token(charClass(_ != ';').+, hide= const(true))) <~ token(OptSpace) } ).+
+		( token(';' ~> OptSpace) flatMap { _ => matched(s.combinedParser | token(charClass(_ != ';').+, hide= const(true))) <~ token(OptSpace) } map (_.trim) ).+
 	def multiApplied(s: State) = 
 		Command.applyEffect( multiParser(s) )( _ ::: s )
 
diff --git a/sbt/src/sbt-test/actions/join/test b/sbt/src/sbt-test/actions/join/test
index 5df2af1f3..98d932ad0 100644
--- a/sbt/src/sbt-test/actions/join/test
+++ b/sbt/src/sbt-test/actions/join/test
@@ -1 +1,2 @@
-> compile
+# the ; clean ; part is to test that semicolon-separated commands work with spaces
+> ; clean ; compile