$("a").click(function(event) {
  event.preventDefault();
  //CODE
});

http://api.jquery.com/event.preventDefault/

Description: If this method is called, the default action of the event will not be triggered.

For example, clicked anchors will not take the browser to a new URL. We can use event.isDefaultPrevented() to determine if this method has been called by an event handler that was triggered by this event.

Prevent default event action

event, jquery

jQuery