Random String Generator

Write a string generator that takes a regular expression as argument and returns strings that match the given regular expression.

generate(/[-+]?[0-9]{1,16}[.][0-9]{1,6}/, 10)

should return results like

"-1752643936.096896"
"9519688.31"
"+1.7036"
"+65048.3876"
"-6547028036936294.111"
"07252345.650"
"-27557.78"
"7385289878518.439775"
"13981103761187.90"
"4100273498885.614"

The generator should be able to support following features:

• . Match any character except newline
• [ Start character class definition
• ] End character class definition
• ? 0 or 1 quantifier
• * 0 or more quantifiers
• + 1 or more quantifier
• { Start min/max quantifier
• } End min/max quantifier

Within a character class, the following meta characters should be supported:

• ^ Negate the class, but only if the first character
• - Indicates character range

Bonus

The following features are optional.

• | Start of alternative branch
• ( Start subpattern
• ) End subpattern
• \1 back reference

Adding support for these features would make the generator able to handle complex patterns like

generate(/(1[0-2]|0[1-9])(:[0-5][0-9]){2} (A|P)M/, 10)

"10:43:51 PM"
"10:41:31 PM"
"03:09:55 PM"
"11:19:50 AM"
"11:20:41 PM"
"01:15:54 PM"
"02:10:04 AM"
"03:43:47 PM"
"09:39:03 AM"
"11:23:46 PM"