diff --git a/changelogs/fragments/skip_invalid_coll_name_when_listing.yml b/changelogs/fragments/skip_invalid_coll_name_when_listing.yml
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..3883795e00a
--- /dev/null
+++ b/changelogs/fragments/skip_invalid_coll_name_when_listing.yml
@@ -0,0 +1,2 @@
+bugfixes:
+  - Skip invalid collection names when listing in ansible-doc instead of throwing exception. Issue#72257
diff --git a/lib/ansible/collections/list.py b/lib/ansible/collections/list.py
index 8e8bc664901..a1d99017067 100644
--- a/lib/ansible/collections/list.py
+++ b/lib/ansible/collections/list.py
@@ -8,6 +8,7 @@ import os
 
 from collections import defaultdict
 
+from ansible.errors import AnsibleError
 from ansible.collections import is_collection_path
 from ansible.module_utils._text import to_bytes
 from ansible.utils.collection_loader import AnsibleCollectionConfig
@@ -54,6 +55,17 @@ def list_collection_dirs(search_paths=None, coll_filter=None):
     :return: list of collection directory paths
     """
 
+    collection = None
+    namespace = None
+    if coll_filter is not None:
+        if '.' in coll_filter:
+            try:
+                (namespace, collection) = coll_filter.split('.')
+            except ValueError:
+                raise AnsibleError("Invalid collection pattern supplied: %s" % coll_filter)
+        else:
+            namespace = coll_filter
+
     collections = defaultdict(dict)
     for path in list_valid_collection_paths(search_paths):
 
@@ -62,32 +74,28 @@ def list_collection_dirs(search_paths=None, coll_filter=None):
             b_coll_root = to_bytes(os.path.join(path, 'ansible_collections'))
 
             if os.path.exists(b_coll_root) and os.path.isdir(b_coll_root):
-                coll = None
-                if coll_filter is None:
+
+                if namespace is None:
                     namespaces = os.listdir(b_coll_root)
                 else:
-                    if '.' in coll_filter:
-                        (nsp, coll) = coll_filter.split('.')
-                    else:
-                        nsp = coll_filter
-                    namespaces = [nsp]
+                    namespaces = [namespace]
 
                 for ns in namespaces:
                     b_namespace_dir = os.path.join(b_coll_root, to_bytes(ns))
 
                     if os.path.isdir(b_namespace_dir):
 
-                        if coll is None:
+                        if collection is None:
                             colls = os.listdir(b_namespace_dir)
                         else:
-                            colls = [coll]
+                            colls = [collection]
 
-                        for collection in colls:
+                        for mycoll in colls:
 
                             # skip dupe collections as they will be masked in execution
-                            if collection not in collections[ns]:
-                                b_coll = to_bytes(collection)
+                            if mycoll not in collections[ns]:
+                                b_coll = to_bytes(mycoll)
                                 b_coll_dir = os.path.join(b_namespace_dir, b_coll)
                                 if is_collection_path(b_coll_dir):
-                                    collections[ns][collection] = b_coll_dir
+                                    collections[ns][mycoll] = b_coll_dir
                                     yield b_coll_dir
diff --git a/test/integration/targets/ansible-doc/runme.sh b/test/integration/targets/ansible-doc/runme.sh
index 7cc6bfe449f..b5929f60be9 100755
--- a/test/integration/targets/ansible-doc/runme.sh
+++ b/test/integration/targets/ansible-doc/runme.sh
@@ -12,6 +12,13 @@ current_out="$(ansible-doc --playbook-dir ./ testns.testcol.fakemodule)"
 expected_out="$(cat fakemodule.output)"
 test "$current_out" == "$expected_out"
 
+# ensure we do work with valid collection name for list
+ansible-doc --list testns.testcol --playbook-dir ./ 2>&1 | grep -v "Invalid collection pattern"
+
+# ensure we dont break on invalid collection name for list
+ansible-doc --list testns.testcol.fakemodule  --playbook-dir ./ 2>&1 | grep "Invalid collection pattern"
+
+
 # test listing diff plugin types from collection
 for ptype in cache inventory lookup vars
 do