[Question]
  [
In a chatroom with a few people, a topic came up between me and them about how many possible strings a regex could match.
Your task is to build a program that can answer that question.
Your program will accept, as input, any regular expression as defined in [this document](http://pubs.opengroup.org/onlinepubs/009695399/basedefs/xbd_chap09.html) as an "extended regular expression", such as:
```
^[A-Za-z0-9]{8}$
```
and output the total number of possible strings that match that expression, outputting `infinity` if there are infinitely many:
```
218340105584896
```
Your program may also output `too many` if there are more than 263-1 possible strings that match the regex; however, it must not output `infinity` unless there are actually infinitely many strings.
The shortest program to do the above wins.
  
[Answer]
# Python 3370
I got this to be about as functional as I could, and even got alternation to work (with correct double-count checking!). As far as I know this works for everything except lookarounds (because that would be crazy).
For anyone writing their own solution feel free to use/improve my methods as much as you like.
Code:
```
R=range;L=len;E=enumerate;I=int;F="Infinity";S=sum;H=chr;D=ord;J=lambda l:''.join(l);U=lambda s:J([H(i)if H(i) not in s else''for i in R(1,128)]);s=' \n\t';c=J((H(i)if H(i)not in s else'')for i in R(1,32));d,l,u=[J(H(i)for i in R(*n))for n in [[48,59],[97,123],[65,91]]];p='`~!@#$%^&*()-_=+[{]}\\|;:\'",<.>/?';Y={'\\s':s,'\\S':c+s+p+u+l+d,'\\d':d,'\\D':U(d),'\\w':u+l+'_','\\W':U(u+l+'_'),'[:alnum:]':u+l+d,'[:alpha:]':u+l,'[:ascii:]':U(''),'[:blank:]':' \t','[:cntrl:]':c,'[:digit:]':d,'[:graph:]':p+d+l+u,'[:lower:]':l,'[:print:]':p+d+l+u+s,'[:punct:]':p,'[:space:]':s,'[:upper:]':u,'[:word:]':l+u+'_','[:xdigit:]':d+'ABCDEF'};C=lambda l,n:[d+[l[i]]for i in R(L(l))for d in C(l[i+1:],n-1)]if n>0 else[[]];O=lambda x:S([all((c in s)for s in [(e[1]if any(e[1] not in Y for e in x)else Y[e[1]])if e[0]=='e'else(e[1]if e[0]=='t'else((Y[e[1]]if e[1]in Y else B(e[1]))if e[0]=='['else''))for e in x])for c in Y['[:ascii:]']])
def X(r):
 x=[];l=0;c=''
 for h in r:
    l+=I(h in'([')-I(h in')]')
    if l<1 and'|'==h:x+=[c];c=''
    else:c+=h
 x+=[c]
 if L(x)>1:
    o=0;m=[];u=[]
    for e in x:
     p,b=X(e)
     if p==F:return F,[]
     o+=p;m+=[('(',b)];u+=[b]
    return o-S([(-1)**(i%2)*T(s) for i in R(2,L(u)+1)for s in C(u,i)]),[('|',m)]
 u=[];o=[];m=[];w=1
 while r!='':
    h=r[0];z=0
    if h in'([{':
     l=1;i=1
     while l>0:k=r[i];l+=(k==h)-(k=={'(':')','[':']','{':'}'}[h]);i+=1
     u+=[(h,r[1:i-1])];z=i
    elif h=='\\':u+=[('e','\\'+eval("'\\%s'"%r[1]))]if r[1]in'nt'else[('e','\\'+r[1])];z=2
    elif h in ['*','+','?']:u+=[('{',h)];z=1
    elif h in'^$':return 0
    elif h=='.':u+=[('[','[:ascii:]')];z=1
    else:u+=[('t',h)];z=1
    r=r[z:]
 for t,g in u:
    if t=='(':p,b=X(g);o+=[p];m+=[('(',b)]
    elif t=='e':o+=[L(Y[g])]if g in Y else[1]
    elif t=='[':o+=[N(g)]
    elif t=='{':
     n=o[-1]
     try:o[-1]=S([n**r for r in Q(g)])
     except:return F,[]
    elif t=='t':o+=[1]
    if t!='(':m+=[(t,g)]
 for c in o:
    if c==F:return F,[]
    w*=c
 return w,m
def N(s):
 if s in Y:return L(Y[s])
 if(s[0],s[-1])==('[',']'):return 1
 n=(s[0]=='^');a=0
 if n:s=s[1:]
 while s!='':
    if L(s)>=3 and s[1]=='-':a+=D(s[2])-D(s[0])+1;s=s[3:];continue
    a+=1;s=s[1:]
 return 256*n+(-1)**n*a
def Q(s):
 if s=='?':return[0,1]
 if s[0]in'*+':return None
 if ','in s:
    l,h=s.split(',')
    return None if h==''else R(I(l),I(h)+1)
 return[I(s)]
def B(s):
 n=(s[0]=='^')
 if n:s=s[1:]
 a='';w=''
 while s!='':
    h=s[0]
    if 3<=L(s)and'-'==s[1]:
     for i in R(D(s[0]),D(s[2])+1):a+=H(i)
     s=s[3:];continue
    a+=h;s=s[1:]
 return J([c*(c not in a)for c in Y['[:ascii:]']])if n else a
def T(x):
 if all(e==[] for e in x):return 1
 for i,e in E(x):
    if L(e)>=2 and e[1][0]=='{':return S([T([[e[0]]*n+e[2:]]+x[:i]+x[i+1:])for n in Q(e[1][1])])
    if L(e)>=1:
     if e[0][0] == '(':return T([e[0][1]+e[1:]]+x[:i]+x[i+1:])
     if e[0][0]== '|':
        t=S(T([[s]+e[1:]]+x[:i]+x[i+1:])for s in e[0][1])
        u=[[s]for s in e[0][1]]
        return t-S((-1)**(j%2)*T(b)for j in R(2,L(u)+1)for b in C(u,j))
 if any(e==[]for e in x):return 0
 return O([e[0]for e in x])*T([e[1:]for e in x])
r=raw_input();e=[];l=0;c=''
for h in r:
 l+=I(h in'([')-I(h in')]')
 if l<1 and'|'==h:e+=[c];c=''
 else:c+=h
e+=[c];o=[];x=[]
for f in e:
 if '^'!=f[0]or'$'!=f[-1]:print F;quit()
 n,m=X(f[1:-1])
 if n==F:print F;quit()
 o+=[n];x+=[m]
print S(o)-S([(-1)**(i%2)*T(s) for i in R(2,L(x)+1)for s in C(x,i)])
```
Ungolfed:
```
controlchars = ''
for i in range(1,32):
    if chr(i) not in '\t\n':
        controlchars += chr(i)
CLASSES={
'\\s':' \t\n',
'\\S':controlchars+'!"#$%&\'()*+,-./0123456789:;<=>?@ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ[\\]^_`abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz{|}~',
'\\d':'0123456789',
'\\D':controlchars+'\n\t !"#$%&\'()*+,-./:;<=>?@ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ[\\]^_`abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz{|}~',
'\\w':'abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyzABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ0123456789_',
'\\W':controlchars+'\n\t !"#$%&\'()*+,-./:;<=>?@[\\]^`{|}~',
'[:alnum:]':'abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyzABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ0123456789',
'[:alpha:]':'abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyzABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ',
'[:ascii:]':controlchars+'\n\t !"#$%&\'()*+,-./0123456789:;<=>?@ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ[\\]^_`abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz{|}~',
'[:blank:]':' \t',
'[:cntrl:]':controlchars,
'[:digit:]':'0123456789',
'[:graph:]':'!"#$%&\'()*+,-./0123456789:;<=>?@ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ[\\]^_`abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz{|}~',
'[:lower:]':'abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz',
'[:print:]':'\n\t !"#$%&\'()*+,-./0123456789:;<=>?@ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ[\\]^_`abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz{|}~',
'[:punct:]':'`~!@#$%^&*()-_=+[{]}\\|;:\'",<.>/?',
'[:space:]':' \t\n',
'[:upper:]':'ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ',
'[:word:]':'abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyzABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ0123456789_',
'[:xdigit:]':'0123456789ABCDEF'
}
DELIMIT = {
'(':')',
')':'(',
'[':']',
']':'[',
'{':'}',
'}':'{'
}
def combos(lst,num):
    if num == 0:
        return [[]]
    combs = []
    for i in range(len(lst)):
        for c in combos(lst[i+1:],num-1):
            combs.append([lst[i]]+c)
    return combs
def count_regex(regex):
    exprs = []
    level = 0
    current = ''
    for char in regex:
        if char in '([':
            level += 1
        if char in ')]':
            level -= 1
        if char == '|' and level == 0:
            exprs.append(current)
            current = ''
        else:
            current += char
    exprs.append(current)
        
    comps = []
    expanded = []
    for e in exprs:
        if (e[0] != '^' or e[-1] != '$'):
            return 'Infinity'
        num,member = count_expr(e[1:-1])
        if num == 'Infinity':
            return 'Infinity'
        comps.append(num)
        expanded.append(member)
    
    total = sum(comps)
    for i in range(2,len(expanded)+1):
        for subset in combos(expanded,i):
            if i % 2 == 0:
                total -= count_doubles(subset)
            else:
                total += count_doubles(subset)
    return total
    
def count_expr(expr):
    exprs = []
    level = 0
    current = ''
    for char in expr:
        if char in '([':
            level += 1
        if char in ')]':
            level -= 1
        if char == '|' and level == 0:
            exprs.append(current)
            current = ''
        else:
            current += char
    exprs.append(current)
    if len(exprs) != 1:
        comps = 0
        members = []
        sub = []
        for e in exprs:
            comp,memb = count_expr(e)
            if comp == 'Infinity':
                return 'Infinity',[]
            comps += comp
            members.append(('(',memb))
            sub.append(memb)
        
        for i in range(2,len(sub)+1):
            for subset in combos(sub,i):
                if i % 2 == 0:
                    comps -= count_doubles(subset)
                else:
                    comps += count_doubles(subset)
        
        return comps,[('|',members)]
            
    
    sub = []
    while expr != '':
        char = expr[0]
        if char in ['(','[','{']:
            level = 1
            i = 1
            while level > 0:
                nchar = expr[i]
                if nchar == char: level += 1
                if nchar == DELIMIT[char]: level -= 1
                i += 1
            sub.append((char,expr[1:i-1]))
            expr = expr[i:]
        elif char == '\\':
            if expr[1] == 'n':
                sub.append(('e','\\'+'\n'))
                expr = expr[2:]
            elif expr[1] == 't':
                sub.append(('e','\\'+'\t'))
                expr = expr[2:]
            else:
                sub.append(('e','\\'+expr[1]))
                expr = expr[2:]
        elif char in ['*','+','?']:
            sub.append(('{',char))
            expr = expr[1:]
        else:
            if char in '^$':
                return 0
            if char == '.':
                sub.append(('[','[:ascii:]'))
                expr = expr[1:]
            else:
                sub.append(('t',char))
                expr = expr[1:]
    
    components = []
    members = []
    for t,string in sub:
        if t == '(':
            comp,memb = count_expr(string)
            components.append(comp)
            members.append(('(',memb))
        elif t == 'e':
            if string in CLASSES:
                components.append(len(CLASSES[string]))
            else:
                components.append(1)
        elif t == '[':
            components.append(count_class(string))
        elif t == '{':
            num = components[-1]
            try:
                components[-1] = sum([num**r for r in count_quantifier(string)])
            except TypeError:
                return 'Infinity',[]
        elif t == 't':
            components.append(1)
        
        if t != '(':
            members.append((t,string))
        
    total = 1
    for c in components:
        if c == 'Infinity':
            return 'Infinity',[]
        total *= c
    return total,members
    
def count_class(string):
    if string in CLASSES:
        return len(CLASSES[string])
    if string[0] == '[' and string[-1] == ']':
        return 1
    negate = (string[0] == '^')
    if negate: string = string[1:]
    avail_count = 0
    while string != '':
        char = string[0]
        if len(string) >= 3:
            if string[1] == '-':
                first,last = string[0],string[2]
                avail_count += ord(last)-ord(first)+1
                string = string[3:]
                continue
        avail_count += 1
        string = string[1:]
    if negate:
        return 256-avail-count
    return avail_count
        
def count_quantifier(string):
    if string == '?':
        return [0,1]
    if string[0] in '*+':
        return None
    if ',' in string:
        low,high = string.split(',')
        if high == '':
            return None
        return range(int(low),int(high)+1)
    return [int(string)]
def bracket_string(string):
    negate = (string[0] == '^')
    if negate: string = string[1:]
    avail = ''
    while string != '':
        char = string[0]
        if len(string) >= 3:
            if string[1] == '-':
                first,last = string[0],string[2]
                for i in range(ord(first),ord(last)+1):
                    avail += chr(i)
                string = string[3:]
                continue
        avail += char
        string = string[1:]
    if negate:
        new = ''
        for c in CLASSES['[:ascii:]']:
            if c not in avail:
                new += c
        return new
    return avail
def overlap(es):
    chars=['' for i in range(len(es))]
    for i,e in enumerate(es):
        if e[0] == 'e':
            if any(e[1] not in CLASSES for e in es):
                chars[i] = e[1]
            else:
                chars[i] = CLASSES[e[1]]
    
    for i,e in enumerate(es):
        if e[0] == 't':
            chars[i] = e[1]
    
    for i,e in enumerate(es):
        if e[0] == '[':
            if e[1] in CLASSES:
                chars[i] = CLASSES[e[1]]
            else:
                chars[i] = bracket_string(e[1])
    
    total = 0
    for c in CLASSES['[:ascii:]']:
        has = True
        for chs in chars:
            if c not in chs:
                has = False
                break
        if has:
            total += 1
    return total
def count_doubles(exprs):   
    if all(e==[] for e in exprs):
        return 1
    
    for i,expr in enumerate(exprs):
        if len(expr) >= 2 and expr[1][0] == '{':
            rng = count_quantifier(expr[1][1])
            total = 0
            for n in rng:
                total += count_doubles([ [expr[0]]*n+expr[2:] ] + exprs[:i] + exprs[i+1:])
            return total
    
    for i,expr in enumerate(exprs):
        if len(expr) >= 1 and expr[0][0] == '(':
            return count_doubles([ expr[0][1]+expr[1:] ] + exprs[:i] + exprs[i+1:] )
    
    if any(e==[] for e in exprs):
        return 0
    
    for i,expr in enumerate(exprs):
        if expr[0][0] == '|':
            total = 0
            subs = []
            for sub_expr in expr[0][1]:
                subs.append([sub_expr])
                total += count_doubles([ [sub_expr]+expr[1:] ] + exprs[:i] + exprs[i+1:])
            
            for j in range(2,len(subs)+1):
                for subset in combos(subs,j):
                    if j % 2 == 0:
                        total -= count_doubles(subset)
                    else:
                        total += count_doubles(subset)
            
            return total
        
    over = overlap([e[0] for e in exprs])
    if over == 0:
        return 0
    return  over * count_doubles([e[1:] for e in exprs])
reg = raw_input('Regex: ')
print count_regex(reg)
```
Here are some relevant test cases I have confirmed:
```
Regex: ^[A-Za-z0-9]{8}$
218340105584896
Regex: ^([a-b]*)$
Infinity
Regex: ^([0-9]|[a-e])([a-e]|[A-E])$|^[a-f]{2}$
161
Regex: ^[a-z]{2}$|^[0-9]?[a-z]{2,3}$|^a[a-z]?$
200773
Regex: ^([a-z]|[a-e]|[A-E]|[3-4]|[D-G])$
35
Regex: ^\(.)\(.)\2\1$
16129*
Regex: ^(a)\1?$
2
Regex: ^[[:space:]]$|^\t$
3
```
\*This is actually different in the golfed and ungolfed due to a one character difference in what is defined as valid ascii. I believe the golfed is the more correct one.
To confirm its accuracy further tests could be done, please let me know of any errors (I honestly would not be surprised if there were quite a few).
]