diff --git a/pandas/io/common.py b/pandas/io/common.py
index 1a9e6b472463d..dd8d97101e736 100644
--- a/pandas/io/common.py
+++ b/pandas/io/common.py
@@ -10,6 +10,7 @@
 from collections import defaultdict
 from collections.abc import (
     Hashable,
+    Iterable,
     Mapping,
     Sequence,
 )
@@ -26,7 +27,10 @@
 )
 import mmap
 import os
-from pathlib import Path
+from pathlib import (
+    Path,
+    PurePosixPath,
+)
 import re
 import tarfile
 from typing import (
@@ -55,6 +59,7 @@
     BaseBuffer,
     ReadCsvBuffer,
 )
+from pandas.compat import is_platform_windows
 from pandas.compat._optional import import_optional_dependency
 from pandas.util._decorators import doc
 from pandas.util._exceptions import find_stack_level
@@ -1282,3 +1287,130 @@ def dedup_names(
         counts[col] = cur_count + 1
 
     return names
+
+
+def _infer_protocol(path: str) -> str:
+    # Treat Windows drive letters like C:\ as local file paths
+    if is_platform_windows() and re.match(r"^[a-zA-Z]:[\\/]", path):
+        return "file"
+
+    if is_fsspec_url(path):
+        parsed = parse_url(path)
+        return parsed.scheme
+    return "file"
+
+
+def _match_file(
+    path: Path | PurePosixPath, extensions: set[str] | None, glob: str | None
+) -> bool:
+    """
+    Check if the file matches the given extensions and glob pattern.
+    Parameters
+    ----------
+    path : Path or PurePosixPath
+        The file path to check.
+    extensions : set[str]
+        A set of file extensions to match against.
+    glob : str
+        A glob pattern to match against.
+    Returns
+    -------
+    bool
+        True if the file matches the extensions and glob pattern, False otherwise.
+    """
+    return (extensions is None or path.suffix.lower() in extensions) and (
+        glob is None or path.match(glob)
+    )
+
+
+def iterdir(
+    path: FilePath | BaseBuffer,
+    extensions: str | Iterable[str] | None = None,
+    glob: str | None = None,
+) -> list[Path | PurePosixPath] | BaseBuffer:
+    """Yield file paths in a directory (no nesting allowed).
+
+    Supports:
+    - Local paths (str, os.PathLike)
+    - file:// URLs
+    - Remote paths (e.g., s3://) via fsspec (if installed)
+
+    Parameters
+    ----------
+    path : FilePath
+        Path to the directory (local or remote).
+    extensions : str or list of str, optional
+        Only yield files with the given extension(s). Case-insensitive.
+        If None, all files are yielded.
+    glob : str, optional
+        Only yield files matching the given glob pattern.
+        If None, all files are yielded.
+
+    Returns
+    ------
+    pathlib.Path or pathlib.PurePosixPath
+        File paths within the directory.
+
+    Raises
+    ------
+    NotADirectoryError
+        If the given path is not a directory.
+    ImportError
+        If fsspec is required but not installed.
+    """
+    if hasattr(path, "read") or hasattr(path, "write"):
+        return path
+
+    if extensions is not None:
+        if isinstance(extensions, str):
+            extensions = {extensions.lower()}
+        else:
+            extensions = {ext.lower() for ext in extensions}
+
+    path_str = os.fspath(path)
+    scheme = _infer_protocol(path_str)
+
+    if scheme == "file":
+        resolved_path = Path(path_str)
+        if resolved_path.is_file():
+            if _match_file(
+                resolved_path,
+                extensions,
+                glob,
+            ):
+                return [resolved_path]
+
+        result = []
+        for entry in resolved_path.iterdir():
+            if entry.is_file():
+                if _match_file(
+                    entry,
+                    extensions,
+                    glob,
+                ):
+                    result.append(entry)
+        return result
+
+    # Remote paths
+    fsspec = import_optional_dependency("fsspec", extra=scheme)
+    fs = fsspec.filesystem(scheme)
+    path_without_scheme = fsspec.core.strip_protocol(path_str)
+    if fs.isfile(path_without_scheme):
+        if _match_file(
+            path_without_scheme,
+            extensions,
+            glob,
+        ):
+            return [PurePosixPath(path_without_scheme)]
+
+    result = []
+    for file in fs.ls(path_without_scheme, detail=True):
+        if file["type"] == "file":
+            path_obj = PurePosixPath(file["name"])
+            if _match_file(
+                path_obj,
+                extensions,
+                glob,
+            ):
+                result.append(path_obj)
+    return result
diff --git a/pandas/io/parsers/readers.py b/pandas/io/parsers/readers.py
index 67193f930b4dc..4b73d290d86b7 100644
--- a/pandas/io/parsers/readers.py
+++ b/pandas/io/parsers/readers.py
@@ -55,6 +55,7 @@
 from pandas.io.common import (
     IOHandles,
     get_handle,
+    iterdir,
     stringify_path,
     validate_header_arg,
 )
@@ -73,6 +74,7 @@
 if TYPE_CHECKING:
     from collections.abc import (
         Callable,
+        Generator,
         Hashable,
         Iterable,
         Mapping,
@@ -668,9 +670,23 @@ def _validate_names(names: Sequence[Hashable] | None) -> None:
             raise ValueError("Names should be an ordered collection.")
 
 
+def _multi_file_generator(
+    list_of_files: list[str], kwds
+) -> Generator[DataFrame] | Generator[TextFileReader]:
+    """Generator for multiple files."""
+    for file in list_of_files:
+        parser = TextFileReader(file, **kwds)
+
+        if kwds.get("chunksize", None) or kwds.get("iterator", False):
+            yield parser
+        else:
+            with parser:
+                yield parser.read(kwds.get("nrows", None))
+
+
 def _read(
     filepath_or_buffer: FilePath | ReadCsvBuffer[bytes] | ReadCsvBuffer[str], kwds
-) -> DataFrame | TextFileReader:
+) -> DataFrame | TextFileReader | Generator[DataFrame] | Generator[TextFileReader]:
     """Generic reader of line files."""
     # if we pass a date_format and parse_dates=False, we should not parse the
     # dates GH#44366
@@ -709,14 +725,25 @@ def _read(
     # Check for duplicates in names.
     _validate_names(kwds.get("names", None))
 
-    # Create the parser.
-    parser = TextFileReader(filepath_or_buffer, **kwds)
+    extensions = kwds.get("extensions", None)
+    glob = kwds.get("glob", None)
+    files = iterdir(filepath_or_buffer, extensions, glob)
+
+    if len(files) == 0:
+        raise FileNotFoundError(
+            f"No files found in {filepath_or_buffer}, "
+            f"with extension(s) {extensions} and glob pattern {glob}"
+        )
+    elif len(files) == 1:
+        parser = TextFileReader(files[0], **kwds)
 
-    if chunksize or iterator:
-        return parser
+        if chunksize or iterator:
+            return parser
 
-    with parser:
-        return parser.read(nrows)
+        with parser:
+            return parser.read(nrows)
+    else:
+        return _multi_file_generator(files, kwds)
 
 
 @overload
@@ -932,10 +959,9 @@ def read_table(
     skipfooter: int = 0,
     nrows: int | None = None,
     # NA and Missing Data Handling
-    na_values: Hashable
-    | Iterable[Hashable]
-    | Mapping[Hashable, Iterable[Hashable]]
-    | None = None,
+    na_values: (
+        Hashable | Iterable[Hashable] | Mapping[Hashable, Iterable[Hashable]] | None
+    ) = None,
     keep_default_na: bool = True,
     na_filter: bool = True,
     skip_blank_lines: bool = True,
diff --git a/pandas/tests/io/conftest.py b/pandas/tests/io/conftest.py
index a5ddda9d66e7a..dbe8fed345d2e 100644
--- a/pandas/tests/io/conftest.py
+++ b/pandas/tests/io/conftest.py
@@ -223,3 +223,32 @@ def compression_format(request):
 @pytest.fixture(params=_compression_formats_params)
 def compression_ext(request):
     return request.param[0]
+
+
+@pytest.fixture
+def local_csv_directory(tmp_path):
+    """
+    Fixture to create a directory with dummy CSV files for testing.
+    """
+    for i in range(3):
+        file_path = tmp_path / f"{i}.csv"
+        file_path.touch()
+    return tmp_path
+
+
+@pytest.fixture
+def remote_csv_directory(monkeypatch):
+    _ = pytest.importorskip("fsspec", reason="fsspec is required for remote tests")
+
+    from fsspec.implementations.memory import MemoryFileSystem
+
+    fs = MemoryFileSystem()
+    fs.store.clear()
+
+    dir_name = "remote-bucket"
+    fs.pipe(f"{dir_name}/a.csv", b"a,b,c\n1,2,3\n")
+    fs.pipe(f"{dir_name}/b.csv", b"a,b,c\n4,5,6\n")
+    fs.pipe(f"{dir_name}/nested/ignored.csv", b"x,y,z\n")
+
+    monkeypatch.setattr("fsspec.filesystem", lambda _: fs)
+    return f"s3://{dir_name}"
diff --git a/pandas/tests/io/parser/test_directory.py b/pandas/tests/io/parser/test_directory.py
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000000..84edc58570036
--- /dev/null
+++ b/pandas/tests/io/parser/test_directory.py
@@ -0,0 +1,37 @@
+from csv import (
+    DictWriter,
+    reader as csv_reader,
+)
+
+import pytest
+
+
+@pytest.fixture
+def directory_data():
+    return ["a", "b", "c"], [
+        {"first": {"a": 1, "b": 2, "c": 3}},
+        {"second": {"a": 4, "b": 5, "c": 6}},
+        {"third": {"a": 7, "b": 8, "c": 9}},
+    ]
+
+
+@pytest.fixture
+def directory_data_to_file(tmp_path, directory_data):
+    field_names, data_list = directory_data
+    for data in data_list:
+        file_name = next(iter(data.keys()))
+        path = tmp_path / f"{file_name}.csv"
+        with path.open("w", newline="", encoding="utf-8") as file:
+            writer = DictWriter(file, fieldnames=field_names)
+            writer.writeheader()
+            writer.writerow(data[file_name])
+    return tmp_path
+
+
+def test_directory_data(directory_data_to_file):
+    assert len(list(directory_data_to_file.iterdir())) == 3
+    for file in directory_data_to_file.iterdir():
+        with file.open(encoding="utf-8") as f:
+            reader = csv_reader(f)
+            header = next(reader)
+            assert header == ["a", "b", "c"]
diff --git a/pandas/tests/io/test_common.py b/pandas/tests/io/test_common.py
index 4a5e41397b59d..7f59b715207de 100644
--- a/pandas/tests/io/test_common.py
+++ b/pandas/tests/io/test_common.py
@@ -695,3 +695,42 @@ def test_pyarrow_read_csv_datetime_dtype():
     expect = pd.DataFrame({"date": expect_data})
 
     tm.assert_frame_equal(expect, result)
+
+
+def test_iterdir_local(local_csv_directory):
+    for file in icom.iterdir(local_csv_directory):
+        assert file.is_file()
+        assert file.suffix == ".csv"
+
+
+def test_remote_csv_directory(remote_csv_directory):
+    import fsspec
+    from fsspec.implementations.memory import MemoryFileSystem
+
+    fs = fsspec.filesystem("s3")
+    assert isinstance(fs, MemoryFileSystem)
+
+    assert fs.exists("remote-bucket")
+    assert fs.isdir("remote-bucket")
+
+    files = fs.ls("remote-bucket", detail=True)
+
+    file_names = sorted(f["name"] for f in files if f["type"] == "file")
+    assert file_names == ["/remote-bucket/a.csv", "/remote-bucket/b.csv"]
+
+    dir_names = [f["name"] for f in files if f["type"] == "directory"]
+    assert "/remote-bucket/nested" in dir_names
+
+    nested_files = fs.ls("remote-bucket/nested", detail=True)
+    assert nested_files[0]["name"] == "/remote-bucket/nested/ignored.csv"
+
+
+def test_iterdir_remote(remote_csv_directory):
+    import fsspec
+
+    fs = fsspec.filesystem("s3")
+    for file in icom.iterdir(remote_csv_directory):
+        # for fsspec<2024.5.0, fs.isfle(PurePosixPath) returns False
+        assert fs.exists(str(file))
+        assert file.suffix == ".csv"
+        assert fs.isfile(str(file))
diff --git a/web/pandas/static/img/books/pandas_cookbook_3.jpeg b/web/pandas/static/img/books/pandas_cookbook_3.jpeg
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000000..cf1c27037de68
Binary files /dev/null and b/web/pandas/static/img/books/pandas_cookbook_3.jpeg differ