Im trying to create a xml file from a POJO , in which i have a property that stores urls, I have been using the below method to replace all & in the url String to make the xml conform to standards and pass it as an html char entity but the string does not change.

public static String forHrefAmpersand(String aURL){ return aURL.replaceAll("&", "&"); }

the value might be www.abc.com/controller?a=1&next=showResults

I have even tried changing the above method to use "/" as i read replaceAll uses regular expression but replaceAll is not working as exprected, Can anyone tell me what is the mistake im doing ? Thanks in advance