#include <bits/stdc++.h>

using namespace std;
 
#define DEBUG(x) cerr<<#x<<": "<<x<<endl;
#define DEBUG_VEC(v) cerr<<#v<<":";for(int i=0;i<v.size();i++) cerr<<" "<<v[i]; cerr<<endl;
#define DEBUG_MAT(v) cerr<<#v<<endl;for(int i=0;i<v.size();i++){for(int j=0;j<v[i].size();j++) {cerr<<v[i][j]<<" ";}cerr<<endl;}
typedef long long ll;
// #define int ll
 
#define vi vector<int>
#define vl vector<ll>
#define vii vector< vector<int> >
#define vll vector< vector<ll> >
#define vs vector<string>
#define pii pair<int,int>
#define pis pair<int,string>
#define psi pair<string,int>
#define pll pair<ll,ll>
template<class S, class T> pair<S, T> operator+(const pair<S, T> &s, const pair<S, T> &t) { return pair<S, T>(s.first + t.first, s.second + t.second); }
template<class S, class T> pair<S, T> operator-(const pair<S, T> &s, const pair<S, T> &t) { return pair<S, T>(s.first - t.first, s.second - t.second); }
template<class S, class T> ostream& operator<<(ostream& os, pair<S, T> p) { os << "(" << p.first << ", " << p.second << ")"; return os; }
#define X first
#define Y second
#define rep(i,n) for(int i=0;i<(int)(n);i++)
#define rep1(i,n) for(int i=1;i<=(int)(n);i++)
#define rrep(i,n) for(int i=(int)(n)-1;i>=0;i--)
#define rrep1(i,n) for(int i=(int)(n);i>0;i--)
#define REP(i,a,b) for(int i=a;i<b;i++)
#define in(x, a, b) (a <= x && x < b)
#define all(c) c.begin(),c.end()
template<class T> bool chmax(T &a, const T &b) { if (a<b) { a = b; return 1; } return 0; }
template<class T> bool chmin(T &a, const T &b) { if (a>b) { a = b; return 1; } return 0; }
#define UNIQUE(v) v.erase(std::unique(v.begin(), v.end()), v.end());
const ll inf = 1000000001;
const ll INF = (ll)1e18 + 1;
const long double pi = 3.1415926535897932384626433832795028841971L;
#define Sp(p) cout<<setprecision(25)<< fixed<<p<<endl;
// int dx[4] = {1, 0, -1, 0}, dy[4] = {0, 1, 0, -1};
// int dx2[8] = { 1,1,0,-1,-1,-1,0,1 }, dy2[8] = { 0,1,1,1,0,-1,-1,-1 };
vi dx = {1, 0, -1, 0}, dy = {0, 1, 0, -1};
// vi dx2 = { 1,1,0,-1,-1,-1,0,1 }, dy2 = { 0,1,1,1,0,-1,-1,-1 };
#define fio() cin.tie(0); ios::sync_with_stdio(false);
const ll MOD = 1000000007;
// const ll MOD = 998244353;
// #define mp make_pair
//#define endl '\n'

namespace internal {

template <class T> struct simple_queue {
    std::vector<T> payload;
    int pos = 0;
    void reserve(int n) { payload.reserve(n); }
    int size() const { return int(payload.size()) - pos; }
    bool empty() const { return pos == int(payload.size()); }
    void push(const T& t) { payload.push_back(t); }
    T& front() { return payload[pos]; }
    void clear() {
        payload.clear();
        pos = 0;
    }
    void pop() { pos++; }
};

}  // namespace internal

template <class Cap> struct mf_graph {
  public:
    mf_graph() : _n(0) {}
    mf_graph(int n) : _n(n), g(n) {}

    int add_edge(int from, int to, Cap cap) {
        assert(0 <= from && from < _n);
        assert(0 <= to && to < _n);
        assert(0 <= cap);
        int m = int(pos.size());
        pos.push_back({from, int(g[from].size())});
        g[from].push_back(_edge{to, int(g[to].size()), cap});
        g[to].push_back(_edge{from, int(g[from].size()) - 1, 0});
        return m;
    }

    struct edge {
        int from, to;
        Cap cap, flow;
    };

    edge get_edge(int i) {
        int m = int(pos.size());
        assert(0 <= i && i < m);
        auto _e = g[pos[i].first][pos[i].second];
        auto _re = g[_e.to][_e.rev];
        return edge{pos[i].first, _e.to, _e.cap + _re.cap, _re.cap};
    }
    std::vector<edge> edges() {
        int m = int(pos.size());
        std::vector<edge> result;
        for (int i = 0; i < m; i++) {
            result.push_back(get_edge(i));
        }
        return result;
    }
    void change_edge(int i, Cap new_cap, Cap new_flow) {
        int m = int(pos.size());
        assert(0 <= i && i < m);
        assert(0 <= new_flow && new_flow <= new_cap);
        auto& _e = g[pos[i].first][pos[i].second];
        auto& _re = g[_e.to][_e.rev];
        _e.cap = new_cap - new_flow;
        _re.cap = new_flow;
    }

    Cap flow(int s, int t) {
        return flow(s, t, std::numeric_limits<Cap>::max());
    }
    Cap flow(int s, int t, Cap flow_limit) {
        assert(0 <= s && s < _n);
        assert(0 <= t && t < _n);

        std::vector<int> level(_n), iter(_n);
        internal::simple_queue<int> que;

        auto bfs = [&]() {
            std::fill(level.begin(), level.end(), -1);
            level[s] = 0;
            que.clear();
            que.push(s);
            while (!que.empty()) {
                int v = que.front();
                que.pop();
                for (auto e : g[v]) {
                    if (e.cap == 0 || level[e.to] >= 0) continue;
                    level[e.to] = level[v] + 1;
                    if (e.to == t) return;
                    que.push(e.to);
                }
            }
        };
        auto dfs = [&](auto self, int v, Cap up) {
            if (v == s) return up;
            Cap res = 0;
            int level_v = level[v];
            for (int& i = iter[v]; i < int(g[v].size()); i++) {
                _edge& e = g[v][i];
                if (level_v <= level[e.to] || g[e.to][e.rev].cap == 0) continue;
                Cap d =
                    self(self, e.to, std::min(up - res, g[e.to][e.rev].cap));
                if (d <= 0) continue;
                g[v][i].cap += d;
                g[e.to][e.rev].cap -= d;
                res += d;
                if (res == up) break;
            }
            return res;
        };

        Cap flow = 0;
        while (flow < flow_limit) {
            bfs();
            if (level[t] == -1) break;
            std::fill(iter.begin(), iter.end(), 0);
            while (flow < flow_limit) {
                Cap f = dfs(dfs, t, flow_limit - flow);
                if (!f) break;
                flow += f;
            }
        }
        return flow;
    }

    std::vector<bool> min_cut(int s) {
        std::vector<bool> visited(_n);
        internal::simple_queue<int> que;
        que.push(s);
        while (!que.empty()) {
            int p = que.front();
            que.pop();
            visited[p] = true;
            for (auto e : g[p]) {
                if (e.cap && !visited[e.to]) {
                    visited[e.to] = true;
                    que.push(e.to);
                }
            }
        }
        return visited;
    }

  private:
    int _n;
    struct _edge {
        int to, rev;
        Cap cap;
    };
    std::vector<std::pair<int, int>> pos;
    std::vector<std::vector<_edge>> g;
};



signed main() {
	int h, w;
	cin >> h >> w;
	int n = h * w;
	vector<string> a(h);
	rep (i, h) cin >> a[i];

	mf_graph<int> graph(n + 2);
	int s = n, t = n + 1;
	vector<pii> e;
	rep (i, h) {
		rep (j, w) {
			if (i % 2 == j % 2) {
				graph.add_edge(s, i * w + j, 1);
				e.push_back(pii(s, i * w + j));
			}
			else {
				graph.add_edge(i * w + j, t, 1);
				e.push_back(pii(i * w + j, t));
			}
		}
	}
	rep (i, h) {
		int j = i % 2;
		while (j < w) {
			int u = i * w + j;
			if (a[i][j] == '#') {
				j += 2;
				continue;
			}
			rep (k, 4) {
				int ni = i + dy[k], nj = j + dx[k];
				int v = ni * w + nj;
				if (not in(ni, 0, h) or not in(nj, 0, w)) continue;
				if (a[ni][nj] == '#') continue;
				graph.add_edge(u, v, 1);
				e.push_back(pii(u, v));
			}
			j += 2;
		}
	}

	int res = graph.flow(s, t);
	cout << res << endl;
	DEBUG_VEC(graph.min_cut(s));
	vector<string> ans = a;

	rep (i, e.size()) {
		pii uv = e[i];
		if (uv.first == s or uv.second == t) continue;
		auto edge = graph.get_edge(i);
		// DEBUG(edge.flow);
		if (edge.flow == 1) {
			int u = uv.first, v = uv.second;
			int i0 = u / w, j0 = u % w, i1 = v / w, j1 = v % w;
			if (i0 == i1) {
				int jj0 = min(j0, j1), jj1 = max(j0, j1);
				ans[i0][jj0] = '>'; ans[i0][jj1] = '<';
			}
			else {
				int ii0 = min(i0, i1), ii1 = max(i0, i1);
				ans[ii0][j0] = 'v'; ans[ii1][j0] = '^';
			}
		}
	}
	rep (i, h) {
		cout << ans[i] << endl;
	}
}

Measured memory_bytes: 5424