//#define _GLIBCXX_DEBUG

#include<bits/stdc++.h>
using namespace std;

#define endl '\n'
#define lfs cout<<fixed<<setprecision(10)
#define ALL(a)  (a).begin(),(a).end()
#define ALLR(a)  (a).rbegin(),(a).rend()
#define spa << " " <<
#define fi first
#define se second
#define MP make_pair
#define MT make_tuple
#define PB push_back
#define EB emplace_back
#define rep(i,n,m) for(ll i = (n); i < (ll)(m); i++)
#define rrep(i,n,m) for(ll i = (ll)(m) - 1; i >= (ll)(n); i--)
using ll = long long;
using ld = long double;
const ll MOD1 = 1e9+7;
const ll MOD9 = 998244353;
const ll INF = 1e18;
using P = pair<ll, ll>;
template<typename T1, typename T2>bool chmin(T1 &a,T2 b){if(a>b){a=b;return true;}else return false;}
template<typename T1, typename T2>bool chmax(T1 &a,T2 b){if(a<b){a=b;return true;}else return false;}
ll median(ll a,ll b, ll c){return a+b+c-max({a,b,c})-min({a,b,c});}
void ans1(bool x){if(x) cout<<"Yes"<<endl;else cout<<"No"<<endl;}
void ans2(bool x){if(x) cout<<"YES"<<endl;else cout<<"NO"<<endl;}
void ans3(bool x){if(x) cout<<"Yay!"<<endl;else cout<<":("<<endl;}
template<typename T1,typename T2>void ans(bool x,T1 y,T2 z){if(x)cout<<y<<endl;else cout<<z<<endl;}  
template<typename T>void debug(vector<vector<T>>&v,ll h,ll w){for(ll i=0;i<h;i++){cout<<v[i][0];for(ll j=1;j<w;j++)cout spa v[i][j];cout<<endl;}};
void debug(vector<string>&v,ll h,ll w){for(ll i=0;i<h;i++){for(ll j=0;j<w;j++)cout<<v[i][j];cout<<endl;}};
template<typename T>void debug(vector<T>&v,ll n){if(n!=0)cout<<v[0];for(ll i=1;i<n;i++)cout spa v[i];cout<<endl;};
template<typename T>vector<vector<T>>vec(ll x, ll y, T w){vector<vector<T>>v(x,vector<T>(y,w));return v;}
ll gcd(ll x,ll y){ll r;while(y!=0&&(r=x%y)!=0){x=y;y=r;}return y==0?x:y;}
vector<ll>dx={1,-1,0,0,1,1,-1,-1};vector<ll>dy={0,0,1,-1,1,-1,1,-1};
template<typename T>vector<T> make_v(size_t a,T b){return vector<T>(a,b);}
template<typename... Ts>auto make_v(size_t a,Ts... ts){return vector<decltype(make_v(ts...))>(a,make_v(ts...));}
template<typename T1, typename T2>ostream &operator<<(ostream &os, const pair<T1, T2>&p){return os << p.first << " " << p.second;}
template<typename T>ostream &operator<<(ostream &os, const vector<T> &v){for(auto &z:v)os << z << " ";cout<<"|"; return os;}
//mt19937 mt(chrono::steady_clock::now().time_since_epoch().count());
struct HopcroftKarp {
  vector< vector< int > > graph;
  vector< int > dist, match;
  vector< bool > used, vv;

  HopcroftKarp(int n, int m) : graph(n), match(m, -1), used(n) {}

  void add_edge(int u, int v) {
    graph[u].push_back(v);
  }

  void bfs() {
    dist.assign(graph.size(), -1);
    queue< int > que;
    for(int i = 0; i < graph.size(); i++) {
      if(!used[i]) {
        que.emplace(i);
        dist[i] = 0;
      }
    }

    while(!que.empty()) {
      int a = que.front();
      que.pop();
      for(auto &b : graph[a]) {
        int c = match[b];
        if(c >= 0 && dist[c] == -1) {
          dist[c] = dist[a] + 1;
          que.emplace(c);
        }
      }
    }
  }

  bool dfs(int a) {
    vv[a] = true;
    for(auto &b : graph[a]) {
      int c = match[b];
      if(c < 0 || (!vv[c] && dist[c] == dist[a] + 1 && dfs(c))) {
        match[b] = a;
        used[a] = true;
        return (true);
      }
    }
    return (false);
  }

  int bipartite_matching() {
    int ret = 0;
    while(true) {
      bfs();
      vv.assign(graph.size(), false);
      int flow = 0;
      for(int i = 0; i < graph.size(); i++) {
        if(!used[i] && dfs(i)) ++flow;
      }
      if(flow == 0) return (ret);
      ret += flow;
    }
  }

  void output() {
    for(int i = 0; i < match.size(); i++) {
      if(~match[i]) {
        cout << match[i] << "-" << i << endl;
      }
    }
  }
};
int main(){
  cin.tie(nullptr);
  ios_base::sync_with_stdio(false);
  ll res=0,buf=0;
  bool judge = true;
  ll n,m;cin>>n>>m;
  vector<string>s(n);
  rep(i,0,n)cin>>s[i];
  HopcroftKarp hop(n*m,n*m);
  rep(i,0,n)rep(j,0,m-1){
    if(s[i][j]!='#'&&s[i][j+1]!='#'){
      if((i+j)&1)hop.add_edge(i*m+j,i*m+j+1);
      else hop.add_edge(i*m+j+1,i*m+j);
    }
  }
  rep(i,0,n-1)rep(j,0,m){
    if(s[i][j]!='#'&&s[i+1][j]!='#'){
      if((i+j)&1)hop.add_edge(i*m+j,(i+1)*m+j);
      else hop.add_edge((i+1)*m+j,i*m+j);
    }
  }
  ll mx=hop.bipartite_matching();
  cout<<mx<<endl;
  rep(i,0,hop.match.size()){
    if(~hop.match[i]){
      ll k=hop.match[i];
      ll x1=i/m,y1=i%m;
      ll x2=k/m,y2=k%m;
      if(x1==x2){
        if(y1<y2)swap(y1,y2);
        s[x1][y1]='<';
        s[x2][y2]='>';
      }
      else{
        if(x1<x2)swap(x1,x2);
        s[x1][y1]='^';
        s[x2][y2]='v';
      }
    }
  }
  debug(s,n,m);
  return 0;
}

Measured memory_bytes: 3868