def commands_match(user_command, expected_command):
    """
    Checks if the commands are essentially equivalent after whitespace
    differences and quote differences.
    
    Returns:
      match: boolean
        True if the commands appear to be equivalent.
    """
    def normalize(command):
        return command.replace(" ", "").replace("'", "\"")
    
    return normalize(user_command) == normalize(expected_command)