diff --git a/fsspec/core.py b/fsspec/core.py
index 9643c5cf9..6fe462eda 100644
--- a/fsspec/core.py
+++ b/fsspec/core.py
@@ -533,7 +533,8 @@ def strip_protocol(urlpath):
 
 
 def expand_paths_if_needed(paths, mode, num, fs, name_function):
-    """Expand paths if they have a ``*`` in them.
+    """Expand paths if they have a ``*`` in them (write mode) or any of ``*?[]``
+    in them (read mode).
 
     :param paths: list of paths
     mode: str
@@ -549,23 +550,32 @@ def expand_paths_if_needed(paths, mode, num, fs, name_function):
     """
     expanded_paths = []
     paths = list(paths)
-    if "w" in mode and sum([1 for p in paths if "*" in p]) > 1:
-        raise ValueError("When writing data, only one filename mask can be specified.")
-    elif "w" in mode:
+
+    if "w" in mode:  # read mode
+        if sum([1 for p in paths if "*" in p]) > 1:
+            raise ValueError(
+                "When writing data, only one filename mask can be specified."
+            )
         num = max(num, len(paths))
-    for curr_path in paths:
-        if "*" in curr_path:
-            if "w" in mode:
+
+        for curr_path in paths:
+            if "*" in curr_path:
                 # expand using name_function
                 expanded_paths.extend(_expand_paths(curr_path, name_function, num))
             else:
+                expanded_paths.append(curr_path)
+        # if we generated more paths that asked for, trim the list
+        if len(expanded_paths) > num:
+            expanded_paths = expanded_paths[:num]
+
+    else:  # read mode
+        for curr_path in paths:
+            if has_magic(curr_path):
                 # expand using glob
                 expanded_paths.extend(fs.glob(curr_path))
-        else:
-            expanded_paths.append(curr_path)
-    # if we generated more paths that asked for, trim the list
-    if "w" in mode and len(expanded_paths) > num:
-        expanded_paths = expanded_paths[:num]
+            else:
+                expanded_paths.append(curr_path)
+
     return expanded_paths
 
 
diff --git a/fsspec/tests/test_core.py b/fsspec/tests/test_core.py
index d4cb6362d..3ccc91b3b 100644
--- a/fsspec/tests/test_core.py
+++ b/fsspec/tests/test_core.py
@@ -11,6 +11,7 @@
     OpenFile,
     OpenFiles,
     _expand_paths,
+    expand_paths_if_needed,
     get_compression,
     open_files,
     open_local,
@@ -45,6 +46,30 @@ def test_expand_paths(path, name_function, num, out):
     assert _expand_paths(path, name_function, num) == out
 
 
+@pytest.mark.parametrize(
+    "create_files, path, out",
+    [
+        [["apath"], "apath", ["apath"]],
+        [["apath1"], "apath*", ["apath1"]],
+        [["apath1", "apath2"], "apath*", ["apath1", "apath2"]],
+        [["apath1", "apath2"], "apath[1]", ["apath1"]],
+        [["apath1", "apath11"], "apath?", ["apath1"]],
+    ],
+)
+def test_expand_paths_if_needed_in_read_mode(create_files, path, out):
+
+    d = str(tempfile.mkdtemp())
+    for f in create_files:
+        f = os.path.join(d, f)
+        open(f, "w").write("test")
+
+    path = os.path.join(d, path)
+
+    fs = fsspec.filesystem("file")
+    res = expand_paths_if_needed([path], "r", 0, fs, None)
+    assert [os.path.basename(p) for p in res] == out
+
+
 def test_expand_error():
     with pytest.raises(ValueError):
         _expand_paths("*.*", None, 1)
@@ -172,8 +197,7 @@ def test_url_kwargs_chain(ftp_writable):
         f.write(data)
 
     with fsspec.open(
-        f"simplecache::ftp://{username}:{password}@{host}:{port}//afile",
-        "rb",
+        f"simplecache::ftp://{username}:{password}@{host}:{port}//afile", "rb"
     ) as f:
         assert f.read() == data