Java method to replace every occurences of a string within another string

    /**
     * This method will replace every occurences of a string within another
     * string.
     *
     * @param target
     *          is the original string
     * @param from
     *          is the string to be replaced
     * @param to
     *          is the string which will used to replace
     * @return
     *          changed new string
     */
    public static String replace(String target, String from, String to)
    {
        int start = target.indexOf(from);
        if (start == -1)
        {
            return target;
        }
        int fromLength = from.length();
        char[] targetChars = target.toCharArray();
        StringBuffer buffer = new StringBuffer();
        int copyFrom = 0;
        while (start != -1)
        {
            buffer.append(targetChars,
                    copyFrom,
                    start - copyFrom);
            buffer.append(to);
            copyFrom = start + fromLength;
            start = target.indexOf(from,
                    copyFrom);
        }
        buffer.append(targetChars,
                copyFrom,
                targetChars.length - copyFrom);
        return buffer.toString();
    }