# If you'd like to omit non-matching lines from the result; add ';d' to the end of the expression.
sed -E 's/<img[^>]*src="([^"]+)"[^>]*>|<a\b.+?<\/a>(*SKIP)(*F)/<a href="$1">$0<\/a>/gis;t' <<< "
<img src=\"/img/file1.jpg\" />
<a href=\"/img/file2.jpg\"><img src=\"/img/file2.jpg\" /></a>
<img src=\"/img/file3.jpg\" />
"
Please keep in mind that these code samples are automatically generated and are not guaranteed to work. If you find any syntax errors, feel free to submit a bug report. For a full regex reference for SED, please visit: https://www.gnu.org/software/sed/manual/html_node/The-_0022s_0022-Command.html