Changing chat format

I'm making a plugin, and I'm trying to change the chat format in it. I have this so far, but it's not working, and I realize why, just I can't figure out how to fix it..

Code:

    @EventHandler
    public void chatFormat(AsyncPlayerChatEvent e) {
        String format = "<points><name>: <message>";
        format.replace("<points>", ChatColor.GRAY + "[" + ChatColor.WHITE + Points.getPoints(e.getPlayer()) + ChatColor.GRAY + "]" + ChatColor.RESET);
        format.replace("<name>", e.getPlayer().getDisplayName() + ChatColor.DARK_GRAY);
        format.replace("<message>", ChatColor.RESET + e.getMessage());
        e.setFormat(format);
        e.setMessage(format + e.getMessage());
    }

When I use this, whenever I send a message it shows the "<points><name>: <message>"..

Any help appreciated. Thanks in advance.

 

Because you're not setting the variable "format" to the value of the replaced text.

You should be using it like:

format = format.replace("Something", words);