[html] Valid to use <a> (anchor tag) without href attribute?

Yes, it is valid to use the anchor tag without a href attribute.

If the a element has no href attribute, then the element represents a placeholder for where a link might otherwise have been placed, if it had been relevant, consisting of just the element's contents.

Yes, you can use class and other attributes, but you can not use target, download, rel, hreflang, and type.

The target, download, rel, hreflang, and type attributes must be omitted if the href attribute is not present.

As for the "Should I?" part, see the first citation: "where a link might otherwise have been placed if it had been relevant". So I would ask "If I had no JavaScript, would I use this tag as a link?". If the answer is yes, then yes, you should use <a> without href. If no, then I would still use it, because productivity is more important for me than edge case semantics, but this is just my personal opinion.

Additionally, you should watch out for different behaviour and styling (e.g. no underline, no pointer cursor, not a :link).

Source: W3C HTML5 Recommendation

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