need help with ‘… read more’ excerpt in functions.php

Took me a couple of blind tries, but I got it.

Before:

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

After:

<a data-toggle="modal" data-target="#modal-' . $post->ID . ' " class="over">' . __('View Article', 'html5blank') . '</a>'