diff --git a/changelogs/fragments/2280-pids-new-pattern-option.yml b/changelogs/fragments/2280-pids-new-pattern-option.yml
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..fb9f07e744
--- /dev/null
+++ b/changelogs/fragments/2280-pids-new-pattern-option.yml
@@ -0,0 +1,3 @@
+---
+minor_changes:
+- pids - new options ``pattern`` and  `ignore_case`` for retrieving PIDs of processes matching a supplied pattern (https://github.com/ansible-collections/community.general/pull/2280).
diff --git a/plugins/modules/system/pids.py b/plugins/modules/system/pids.py
index 1bee180b08..e7312465f1 100644
--- a/plugins/modules/system/pids.py
+++ b/plugins/modules/system/pids.py
@@ -2,6 +2,7 @@
 # Copyright: (c) 2019, Saranya Sridharan
 # GNU General Public License v3.0+ (see COPYING or https://www.gnu.org/licenses/gpl-3.0.txt)
 from __future__ import (absolute_import, division, print_function)
+
 __metaclass__ = type
 
 DOCUMENTATION = '''
@@ -14,12 +15,20 @@ requirements:
   - psutil(python module)
 options:
   name:
-    description: the name of the process you want to get PID for.
-    required: true
+    description: The name of the process(es) you want to get PID(s) for.
     type: str
+  pattern:
+    description: The pattern (regular expression) to match the process(es) you want to get PID(s) for.
+    type: str
+    version_added: 3.0.0
+  ignore_case:
+    description: Ignore case in pattern if using the I(pattern) option.
+    type: bool
+    default: false
+    version_added: 3.0.0
 '''
 
-EXAMPLES = '''
+EXAMPLES = r'''
 # Pass the process name
 - name: Getting process IDs of the process
   community.general.pids:
@@ -29,6 +38,11 @@ EXAMPLES = '''
 - name: Printing the process IDs obtained
   ansible.builtin.debug:
     msg: "PIDS of python:{{pids_of_python.pids|join(',')}}"
+
+- name: Getting process IDs of processes matching pattern
+  community.general.pids:
+    pattern: python(2(\.7)?|3(\.6)?)?\s+myapp\.py
+  register: myapp_pids
 '''
 
 RETURN = '''
@@ -39,9 +53,15 @@ pids:
   sample: [100,200]
 '''
 
-from ansible.module_utils.basic import AnsibleModule
+import re
+from os.path import basename
+
+from ansible.module_utils.basic import AnsibleModule, missing_required_lib
+from ansible.module_utils.common.text.converters import to_native
+
 try:
     import psutil
+
     HAS_PSUTIL = True
 except ImportError:
     HAS_PSUTIL = False
@@ -66,17 +86,51 @@ def get_pid(name):
     return pids
 
 
+def get_matching_command_pids(pattern, ignore_case):
+    flags = 0
+    if ignore_case:
+        flags |= re.I
+
+    regex = re.compile(pattern, flags)
+    # See https://psutil.readthedocs.io/en/latest/#find-process-by-name for more information
+    return [p.pid for p in psutil.process_iter(["name", "exe", "cmdline"])
+            if regex.search(to_native(p.info["name"]))
+            or (p.info["exe"] and regex.search(basename(to_native(p.info["exe"]))))
+            or (p.info["cmdline"] and regex.search(to_native(' '.join(p.cmdline()))))
+            ]
+
+
 def main():
     module = AnsibleModule(
         argument_spec=dict(
-            name=dict(required=True, type="str"),
+            name=dict(type="str"),
+            pattern=dict(type="str"),
+            ignore_case=dict(type="bool", default=False),
         ),
+        required_one_of=[
+            ('name', 'pattern')
+        ],
+        mutually_exclusive=[
+            ('name', 'pattern')
+        ],
         supports_check_mode=True,
     )
+
     if not HAS_PSUTIL:
-        module.fail_json(msg="Missing required 'psutil' python module. Try installing it with: pip install psutil")
+        module.fail_json(msg=missing_required_lib('psutil'))
+
     name = module.params["name"]
-    response = dict(pids=get_pid(name))
+    pattern = module.params["pattern"]
+    ignore_case = module.params["ignore_case"]
+
+    if name:
+        response = dict(pids=get_pid(name))
+    else:
+        try:
+            response = dict(pids=get_matching_command_pids(pattern, ignore_case))
+        except re.error as e:
+            module.fail_json(msg="'%s' is not a valid regular expression: %s" % (pattern, to_native(e)))
+
     module.exit_json(**response)
 
 
diff --git a/tests/integration/targets/pids/tasks/main.yml b/tests/integration/targets/pids/tasks/main.yml
index 4cc691633c..b56093cf0c 100644
--- a/tests/integration/targets/pids/tasks/main.yml
+++ b/tests/integration/targets/pids/tasks/main.yml
@@ -56,6 +56,22 @@
     name: "{{ random_name[0:5] }}"
   register: exactpidmatch
 
+- name: "Checking that patterns can be used with the pattern option"
+  pids:
+    pattern: "{{ random_name[0:5] }}"
+  register: pattern_pid_match
+
+- name: "Checking that case-insensitive patterns can be used with the pattern option"
+  pids:
+    pattern: "{{ random_name[0:5] | upper }}"
+    ignore_case: true
+  register: caseinsensitive_pattern_pid_match
+
+- name: "Checking that .* includes test pid"
+  pids:
+    pattern: .*
+  register: match_all
+
 - name: "Reading pid from the file"
   slurp:
     src:  "{{ output_dir }}/obtainpid.txt"
@@ -67,3 +83,17 @@
     - "pids.pids | join(' ')  == newpid.content | b64decode | trim"
     - "pids.pids | length > 0"
     - "exactpidmatch.pids == []"
+    - "pattern_pid_match.pids | join(' ')  == newpid.content | b64decode | trim"
+    - "caseinsensitive_pattern_pid_match.pids | join(' ')  == newpid.content | b64decode | trim"
+    - newpid.content | b64decode | trim | int in match_all.pids
+
+- name: "Register output of bad input pattern"
+  pids:
+    pattern: (unterminated
+  register: bad_pattern_result
+  ignore_errors: true
+
+- name: "Verify that bad input pattern result is failed"
+  assert:
+    that:
+      - bad_pattern_result is failed
\ No newline at end of file