need help with '... read more' excerpt in functions.php

I have this to generate the link:

<a class="view-article" href="' . get_permalink($post->ID) . '">' . __('View Article', 'html5blank') . '</a>';

But I don't want it to open the post page. I want it to pop open my modal like this:

<href="#" data-toggle="modal" data-target="#modal-<?php the_ID(); ?>" class=""> view article</a>

I broke WP once and would like not to do it again. Thanks in advance.