# If you'd like to omit non-matching lines from the result; add ';d' to the end of the expression.
sed -E 's/<((?!a|\\/a)[^>]*)>\s*//gm;t' <<< "<html>
<head>
<meta http-equiv=\\"Content-Type\\" content=\\"text/html; charset=utf-8\\">
<meta content=\\"text/html; charset=us-ascii\\">
<meta name=\\"ProgId\\" content=\\"Word.Document\\">
<meta name=\\"Generator\\" content=\\"Microsoft Word 15\\">
<meta name=\\"Originator\\" content=\\"Microsoft Word 15\\">
<style>
<!--
@font-face
\t{font-family:\\"Cambria Math\\"}
@font-face
\t{font-family:Calibri}
p.MsoNormal, li.MsoNormal, div.MsoNormal
\t{margin:0cm;
\tmargin-bottom:.0001pt;
\tfont-size:11.0pt;
\tfont-family:\\"Calibri\\",sans-serif}
a:link, span.MsoHyperlink
\t{color:#0563C1;
\ttext-decoration:underline}
a:visited, span.MsoHyperlinkFollowed
\t{color:#954F72;
\ttext-decoration:underline}
p.msonormal0, li.msonormal0, div.msonormal0
\t{margin-right:0cm;
\tmargin-left:0cm;
\tfont-size:11.0pt;
\tfont-family:\\"Calibri\\",sans-serif}
span.EmailStyle18
\t{font-family:\\"Calibri\\",sans-serif}
.MsoChpDefault
\t{font-size:10.0pt;
\tfont-family:\\"Calibri\\",sans-serif}
@page WordSection1
\t{margin:72.0pt 72.0pt 72.0pt 72.0pt}
div.WordSection1
\t{}
-->
</style>
</head>
<body lang=\\"EN-GB\\" link=\\"#0563C1\\" vlink=\\"#954F72\\" style=\\"\\">
<div class=\\"WordSection1\\">
<p class=\\"MsoNormal\\">I NEED TO HAVE THIS STRING</p>
<p class=\\"MsoNormal\\"> </p>
<p class=\\"MsoNormal\\"><span style=\\"\\">AND I NEED THE FOLLOWING ANCHOR
<a href=\\"google.com\\">
THIS ONE</a>.</span></p>
<p class=\\"MsoNormal\\"> </p>
</div>
</body>
</html>
"
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