# If you'd like to omit non-matching lines from the result; add ';d' to the end of the expression.
sed -E 's/\*([\w ^?.]*?)\*/<em>\1<\em>/g;t' <<< "Chicken teriy*ai*ki r*ai*men noodles, spaghetti a la moneg*ai*sque.
^*Have I seen^ you before?*"
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