diff --git a/library/packaging/apt b/library/packaging/apt
index 27c0ca4f920..acc61b6c67b 100644
--- a/library/packaging/apt
+++ b/library/packaging/apt
@@ -29,7 +29,7 @@ version_added: "0.0.2"
 options:
   pkg:
     description:
-      - A package name or package specifier with version, like C(foo) or C(foo=1.0)
+      - A package name or package specifier with version, like C(foo) or C(foo=1.0). Shell like wildcards (fnmatch) like apt* are also supported.
     required: false
     default: null
   state:
@@ -169,8 +169,30 @@ def package_status(m, pkgname, version, cache, state):
             #assume older version of python-apt is installed
             return pkg.isInstalled, pkg.isUpgradable, has_files
 
+def expand_pkgspec_from_fnmatches(m, pkgspec, cache):
+    new_pkgspec = []
+    for pkgname_or_fnmatch_pattern in pkgspec:
+        # note that any of these chars is not allowed in a (debian) pkgname
+        if [c for c in pkgname_or_fnmatch_pattern if c in "*?[]!"]:
+            if "=" in pkgname_or_fnmatch_pattern:
+                m.fail_json(msg="pkgname wildcard and version can not be mixed")
+            # handle multiarch pkgnames, the idea is that "apt*" should 
+            # only select native packages. But "apt*:i386" should still work
+            if not ":" in pkgname_or_fnmatch_pattern:
+                matches = fnmatch.filter(
+                    [pkg.name for pkg in cache
+                     if not ":" in pkg.name], pkgname_or_fnmatch_pattern)
+            else:
+                matches = fnmatch.filter(
+                    [pkg.name for pkg in cache], pkgname_or_fnmatch_pattern)
+            new_pkgspec.extend(matches)
+        else:
+            new_pkgspec.append(pkgname_or_fnmatch_pattern)
+    return new_pkgspec
+
 def install(m, pkgspec, cache, upgrade=False, default_release=None, install_recommends=True, force=False):
     packages = ""
+    pkgspec = expand_pkgspec_from_fnmatches(m, pkgspec, cache)
     for package in pkgspec:
         name, version = package_split(package)
         installed, upgradable, has_files = package_status(m, name, version, cache, state='install')