Histogram - Going down a line when having 2+ letters of same word

I have a question saying this:

---

Write a function which receives a string ( containing only small letters and whitespaces ).

This function will print histogram for all letters with *, for example:

string - "aba ima", this will be printed:

---

abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz

**      *   *

*

*

---

Now, I tried this code, although it is 80% done, the remaining 20% of the work I cant seem to get it...

My problem is how to print the other letters in the string.

For example, aba ima, it has three "a", I cant seem to get it to print 3 lines for it.

My code:

def histogram(string):
    abc = "abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz"
    print(abc)
    for letter in abc:
        if letter in string:
            abc = abc.replace(letter, "*")
        else:
            abc = abc.replace(letter, "_")
    return abc


print(histogram("aba ima"))

my output:

abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz
**______*___*_____________

can anyone help me? so I can do if it says: aba ima, so Ill have 3 lines of *?

I asked the same question in a forum in my country, no one could help me. Asked the same at reddit, same thing. I gave up on it almsot, then decided to ask here to see if any different... I was told in all scenarios that I have to use index and find, but I cant seem to understand how I need to use it with this function.. its really annoying, I am stuck on it for a week + and because of it I cant continue on to my next homework ( sorting and then recursions ). Please help on this if anyone can, thanks...

EDIT:

another try of my code, didnt upload but now I will:

def make_counters(alphabet):
    counters = []
    for i in range(0, len(alphabet)):
        counters.append(0)  # must be a counter, so integer
    return counters

abc = make_counters("abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz")

def histogram(string, alphabet):
    print(alphabet)
    counters = make_counters(alphabet)
    for letter in alphabet:
        if letter in alphabet:
            alphabet.find(letter)
        else:
            pass



print(histogram("aba ima", abc))

SECOND EDIT: like that?

def histogram(string):

  abc = "abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz"
    print(abc)
    for letter in abc:
        if letter in string:
            abc = abc.replace(letter, "*")
            string = string.replace(letter, "*", 1)
            print(abc)
        else:
            abc = abc.replace(letter, "_")
    return abc

the output is:

abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz
*bcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz
**cdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz
**______*jklmnopqrstuvwxyz
**______*___*nopqrstuvwxyz
**______*___*_____________

Process finished with exit code 0

THIRD EDIT:

def histogram(string):
    abc = "abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz"
    print(abc)
    for letter in abc:
        if letter in string:
            abc = abc.replace(letter, "*")
            string = string.replace(letter, "*", 1)
            if letter in string:
                abc = abc.replace(letter, "*")
                string = string.replace(letter, "*", 1)
        else:
            abc = abc.replace(letter, "_")
    print(abc)
    return abc

output:

abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz
**______*___*_____________
**______*___*_____________

tried this also in the third edit ( among some other stuff, this seems like the closest:

    abc = "abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz"
    print(abc)
    for letter in abc:
        if letter in string:
            abc = abc.replace(letter, "*")
            string = string.replace(letter, "*", 1)
            if letter in string:
                    print(abc)
                    abc = abc.replace(letter, "*")
                    string = string.replace(letter, "*", 1)
        else:
            abc = abc.replace(letter, "_")
    print(abc)
    return abc

abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz
*bcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz
**______*___*_____________
**______*___*_____________

but still not good

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