# If you'd like to omit non-matching lines from the result; add ';d' to the end of the expression.
sed -E 's/(\[a\])([^\[]+)(\[\\/a\])/<a href='$2'>$2<\/a>/g;t' <<< "[a]http://first.com/hi_underscoredot.htm[/a] [a]http://secondinoneline.com/hi_.htm[/a]"
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