Options to define link HREF

Is there a way to specify a link to say don't navigate. There is an option to specify href="#". But if the link output is directed to a target this will c开发者_开发问答ause the calling page to be loaded in that target.

In a file called load.php I have these links defined for folder nodes in a navigation tree.

<a href="#"> link </a>

The page nodes under the folders have

<a href="page.html">page link</a>

Each link in the navigation tree is directed to a content area.

Here is the problem. If I click on a folder, the href="#" causes the tree page to be loaded in the content area. I want to specify the href to not load anything in the content area for the folders. I have a workaround where I load a blank page. But if there is a different way I would prefer that.

I would do this with JavaScript. Specifically you can load the jQuery library and do something like this:

$("a[href='#']").click(function(event) {
    event.preventDefault();
    event.stopPropagation();
});