Ruby code for counting the number of characters in a string without counting space (LIGHTHOUSE LABS DEV BOOTCAMP)

counting characters.rb

def count_letters(user_input)
counted =  {}

 
characters = user_input.split("")
  for char in characters
    if char == " "
      next

    elsif counted.has_key? char 
      counted[char] =counted[char] + 1
             
    else 
      counted[char]= 1
    end 
  end 
#for  user input do a split of the string 
#identify the chracters going through the string 
#do a count of each character 

puts counted

end 

puts "please write a sentence" 
user_input = gets.chomp 
 count_letters(user_input)