<?php
$string = 'My long <a href="http://e...content-available-to-author-only...e.com/abc" rel="link">string</a> has any
<a href="/local/path" title="with attributes">number</a> of
<a href="#anchor" data-attr="lots">links</a>. ';
$regex='|<a\s*href="([^"]+)"[^>]+>([^<]+)</a>|';
PD9waHAKJHN0cmluZyA9ICdNeSBsb25nIDxhIGhyZWY9Imh0dHA6Ly9lLi4uY29udGVudC1hdmFpbGFibGUtdG8tYXV0aG9yLW9ubHkuLi5lLmNvbS9hYmMiIHJlbD0ibGluayI+c3RyaW5nPC9hPiBoYXMgYW55CiAgICAgICAgPGEgaHJlZj0iL2xvY2FsL3BhdGgiIHRpdGxlPSJ3aXRoIGF0dHJpYnV0ZXMiPm51bWJlcjwvYT4gb2YKICAgICAgICA8YSBocmVmPSIjYW5jaG9yIiBkYXRhLWF0dHI9ImxvdHMiPmxpbmtzPC9hPi4gJzsKJHJlZ2V4PSd8PGFccypocmVmPSIoW14iXSspIltePl0rPihbXjxdKyk8L2E+fCc7CiRob3dtYW55ID0gcHJlZ19tYXRjaF9hbGwoJHJlZ2V4LCRzdHJpbmcsJHJlcyxQUkVHX1NFVF9PUkRFUik7CnByaW50X3IoJHJlcyk7