# If you'd like to omit non-matching lines from the result; add ';d' to the end of the expression.
sed -E 's/"([^<>]*?)"(?=[^>]+?<)/\<em\>\1\<\\/em\>/g;t' <<< "<p>This is a \"wonderful long text\". \"Another wonderful ong text\" At least it should be. Here we have a <a href=\"http://wwww.site-to-nowhere.com\" target=\"_blank\">link</a>.</p>
"
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