Make a HTML link that does nothing (literally nothing)

I want a link that does nothing. I don't want this:

<a href="#">

because then the URL becomes something.com/whatever/#.

The only reason I want a link is so the user can see that they can click on the text. JavaScript is being used to perform some action so I don't need the link to go anywhere but I need it to look like a link!

I could use some data attribute and tell me CSS to make elements look like links if they have this attribute but it seems a bit overkill.

Solution 1:

The following will prevent your href from being ran

<a href="#" onclick="return false;">

If you are using jQuery, event.preventDefault() can be used

Solution 2:

Try this:

<a href="javascript:void(0);">link</a>