diff --git a/CHANGELOG b/CHANGELOG
index 31af73fa5e..bc9f641715 100644
--- a/CHANGELOG
+++ b/CHANGELOG
@@ -216,6 +216,11 @@ Build system
 
 - attempted to fix detection of CPLEX library on macOS and Windows systems
 
+Testing
+-------
+
+- added parameter FILTER for tests/Makefile to run only tests with a specific pattern (ctest with -R FILTER)
+
 Miscellaneous
 -------------
 
diff --git a/tests/Makefile b/tests/Makefile
index 15c84f3597..f40767ed14 100644
--- a/tests/Makefile
+++ b/tests/Makefile
@@ -173,7 +173,7 @@ endif
 .PHONY: all
 all:            Criterion $(OBJDIR) $(OBJDIRS) $(BINDIRS) $(UNITTESTSBIN)
 		make ctestrunner
-		setarch `uname -m` -R ctest --output-on-failure
+		setarch `uname -m` -R ctest --output-on-failure $(if $(FILTER), -R $(FILTER))
 
 .PHONY: lint
 lint:		$(UNITTESTSSRC)
@@ -200,7 +200,7 @@ $(BINDIRS):
 .PHONY: test
 test:           $(UNITTESTSBIN)
 		make ctestrunner
-		setarch `uname -m` -R ctest --output-on-failure
+		setarch `uname -m` -R ctest --output-on-failure $(if $(FILTER), -R $(FILTER))
 
 .PHONY: ctestrunner
 ctestrunner: 	$(UNITTESTSBIN)
diff --git a/tests/README.md b/tests/README.md
index 544799ba71..228d0485b2 100644
--- a/tests/README.md
+++ b/tests/README.md
@@ -89,10 +89,14 @@ This creates `CTestTestfile.cmake` with a list of the test to run and then calls
 make BUGS=true
 ```
 
-You can also run a single test, e.g. `
+You can also run a single test, e.g.
 ```
  >> ./bin/cons/quadratic/gauge.linux.x86_64.gnu.dbg.spx2
 ```
+To run all tests that match a regular expression, use
+```
+ >> make FILTER=gauge
+```
 
 Note, that parameterized tests will not work on systems that have address
 space layout randomization (ASLR) enabled. One can disable ASLR for a