diff --git a/salt/cli/caller.py b/salt/cli/caller.py
index 10938a34cb..672593f93f 100644
--- a/salt/cli/caller.py
+++ b/salt/cli/caller.py
@@ -165,6 +165,11 @@ class BaseCaller(object):
             ret['jid']
         )
         if fun not in self.minion.functions:
+            docs = self.minion.functions['sys.doc']('{0}*'.format(fun))
+            if docs:
+                ret['out'] = 'nested'
+                ret['return'] = docs
+                return ret
             sys.stderr.write(self.minion.functions.missing_fun_string(fun))
             mod_name = fun.split('.')[0]
             if mod_name in self.minion.function_errors:
diff --git a/salt/client/mixins.py b/salt/client/mixins.py
index 09680a0561..5ee62bbb33 100644
--- a/salt/client/mixins.py
+++ b/salt/client/mixins.py
@@ -5,6 +5,7 @@ A collection of mixins useful for the various *Client interfaces
 
 # Import Python libs
 from __future__ import absolute_import, print_function, with_statement
+import fnmatch
 import signal
 import logging
 import weakref
@@ -436,10 +437,19 @@ class SyncClientMixin(object):
         Return a dictionary of functions and the inline documentation for each
         '''
         if arg:
-            target_mod = arg + '.' if not arg.endswith('.') else arg
-            docs = [(fun, self.functions[fun].__doc__)
-                    for fun in sorted(self.functions)
-                    if fun == arg or fun.startswith(target_mod)]
+            if '*' in arg:
+                target_mod = arg
+                _use_fnmatch = True
+            else:
+                target_mod = arg + '.' if not arg.endswith('.') else arg
+            log.debug('target_mod {}'.format(target_mod))
+            if _use_fnmatch:
+                docs = [(fun, self.functions[fun].__doc__)
+                        for fun in fnmatch.filter(self.functions, target_mod)]
+            else:
+                docs = [(fun, self.functions[fun].__doc__)
+                        for fun in sorted(self.functions)
+                        if fun == arg or fun.startswith(target_mod)]
         else:
             docs = [(fun, self.functions[fun].__doc__)
                     for fun in sorted(self.functions)]
diff --git a/salt/minion.py b/salt/minion.py
index 309d6e926b..faa093e7b3 100644
--- a/salt/minion.py
+++ b/salt/minion.py
@@ -1520,12 +1520,16 @@ class Minion(MinionBase):
                 ret['return'] = '{0}: {1}'.format(msg, traceback.format_exc())
                 ret['out'] = 'nested'
         else:
-            ret['return'] = minion_instance.functions.missing_fun_string(function_name)
-            mod_name = function_name.split('.')[0]
-            if mod_name in minion_instance.function_errors:
-                ret['return'] += ' Possible reasons: \'{0}\''.format(
-                    minion_instance.function_errors[mod_name]
-                )
+            docs = minion_instance.functions['sys.doc']('{0}*'.format(function_name))
+            if docs:
+                ret['return'] = docs
+            else:
+                ret['return'] = minion_instance.functions.missing_fun_string(function_name)
+                mod_name = function_name.split('.')[0]
+                if mod_name in minion_instance.function_errors:
+                    ret['return'] += ' Possible reasons: \'{0}\''.format(
+                        minion_instance.function_errors[mod_name]
+                    )
             ret['success'] = False
             ret['retcode'] = 254
             ret['out'] = 'nested'
diff --git a/salt/runner.py b/salt/runner.py
index d9a04da015..c04f14aeec 100644
--- a/salt/runner.py
+++ b/salt/runner.py
@@ -276,7 +276,13 @@ class Runner(RunnerClient):
                                 'fun_args': fun_args,
                                 'jid': self.jid},
                                tag='salt/run/{0}/ret'.format(self.jid))
-                ret = '{0}'.format(exc)
+                # Attempt to grab documentation
+                ret = self.get_docs('{0}*'.format(low['fun']))
+
+                # If we didn't get docs returned then
+                # return the `not availble` message.
+                if not ret:
+                    ret = '{0}'.format(exc)
                 if not self.opts.get('quiet', False):
                     display_output(ret, 'nested', self.opts)
             else: