#include <bits/stdc++.h>
#include <atcoder/all>
using namespace std;
 using namespace atcoder;
typedef long long ll;
typedef long double ld;
typedef double db; 
typedef string str; 
 
typedef pair<int,int> pi;
typedef pair<ll,ll> pl; 
typedef pair<db,db> pd; 
 
typedef vector<int> vi; 
typedef vector<ll> vl; 
typedef vector<db> vd; 
typedef vector<str> vs; 
typedef vector<pi> vpi;
typedef vector<pl> vpl; 
typedef vector<pd> vpd; 
 
#define mp make_pair
#define f first
#define s second
#define sz(x) (int)(x).size()
#define all(x) begin(x), end(x)
#define rall(x) (x).rbegin(), (x).rend() 
#define rsz resize
#define ins insert 
#define ft front() 
#define bk back()
#define pf push_front 
#define pb push_back
#define eb emplace_back 
#define lb lower_bound 
#define ub upper_bound 
 
#define FOR(i,a,b) for (int i = (a); i < (b); ++i)
#define F0R(i,a) FOR(i,0,a)
#define rep(i,a) FOR(i,0,a)
#define RFOR(i,a,b) for (int i = (b)-1; i >= (a); --i)
#define RF0R(i,a) RFOR(i,0,a)
#define rrep(i,a) RFOR(i,0,a)
#define trav(a,x) for (auto& a: x)
 
const int MOD = 1e9+7; // 998244353;
const int MX = 2e5+5; 
const ll INF = 1e18; 
const ld PI = acos((ld)-1);
const int xd[4] = {1,0,-1,0}, yd[4] = {0,1,0,-1}; 
mt19937 rng((uint32_t)chrono::steady_clock::now().time_since_epoch().count()); 
 
template<class T> bool ckmin(T& a, const T& b) { 
	return b < a ? a = b, 1 : 0; }
template<class T> bool ckmax(T& a, const T& b) { 
	return a < b ? a = b, 1 : 0; } 
constexpr int pct(int x) { return __builtin_popcount(x); } 
constexpr int bits(int x) { return 31-__builtin_clz(x); } // floor(log2(x)) 
ll cdiv(ll a, ll b) { return a/b+((a^b)>0&&a%b); } // divide a by b rounded up
ll fdiv(ll a, ll b) { return a/b-((a^b)<0&&a%b); } // divide a by b rounded down
ll half(ll x) { return fdiv(x,2); }
 
template<class T, class U> T fstTrue(T lo, T hi, U f) { 
	// note: if (lo+hi)/2 is used instead of half(lo+hi) then this will loop infinitely when lo=hi
	hi ++; assert(lo <= hi); // assuming f is increasing
	while (lo < hi) { // find first index such that f is true 
		T mid = half(lo+hi);
		f(mid) ? hi = mid : lo = mid+1; 
	} 
	return lo;
}
template<class T, class U> T lstTrue(T lo, T hi, U f) {
	lo --; assert(lo <= hi); // assuming f is decreasing
	while (lo < hi) { // find first index such that f is true 
		T mid = half(lo+hi+1);
		f(mid) ? lo = mid : hi = mid-1;
	} 
	return lo;
}
template<class T> void remDup(vector<T>& v) { 
	sort(all(v)); v.erase(unique(all(v)),end(v)); }
 
// INPUT
template<class A> void re(complex<A>& c);
template<class A, class B> void re(pair<A,B>& p);
template<class A> void re(vector<A>& v);
template<class A, size_t SZ> void re(array<A,SZ>& a);
 
template<class T> void re(T& x) { cin >> x; }
void re(db& d) { str t; re(t); d = stod(t); }
void re(ld& d) { str t; re(t); d = stold(t); }
template<class H, class... T> void re(H& h, T&... t) { re(h); re(t...); }
 
template<class A> void re(complex<A>& c) { A a,b; re(a,b); c = {a,b}; }
template<class A, class B> void re(pair<A,B>& p) { re(p.f,p.s); }
template<class A> void re(vector<A>& x) { trav(a,x) re(a); }
template<class A, size_t SZ> void re(array<A,SZ>& x) { trav(a,x) re(a); }
 
// TO_STRING
#define ts to_string
str ts(char c) { return str(1,c); }
str ts(const char* s) { return (str)s; }
str ts(str s) { return s; }
str ts(bool b) { 
	#ifdef LOCAL
		return b ? "true" : "false"; 
	#else 
		return ts((int)b);
	#endif
}
template<class A> str ts(complex<A> c) { 
	stringstream ss; ss << c; return ss.str(); }
str ts(vector<bool> v) {
	str res = ""; F0R(i,sz(v)) res += char('0'+v[i]);
	res += ""; return res; }
template<size_t SZ> str ts(bitset<SZ> b) {
	str res = ""; F0R(i,SZ) res += char('0'+b[i]);
	return res; }
template<class A, class B> str ts(pair<A,B> p);
template<class T> str ts(T v) { // containers with begin(), end()
		bool fst = 1; str res = "";
		for (const auto& x: v) {
			if (!fst) res += " ";
			fst = 0; res += ts(x);
		}
		return res;
}

template<class A, class B> str ts(pair<A,B> p) {
	#ifdef LOCAL
		return "("+ts(p.f)+", "+ts(p.s)+")"; 
	#else
		return ts(p.f)+" "+ts(p.s);
	#endif
}
 
// OUTPUT
template<class A> void printl(A x) { cout << ts(x); }
template<class H, class... T> void printl(const H& h, const T&... t) { 
	printl(h); printl(t...); }
void print() { printl("\n"); } // print w/ spaces
template<class H, class... T> void print(const H& h, const T&... t) { 
	printl(h); if (sizeof...(t)) printl(" "); print(t...); }
 
// DEBUG
void DBG() { cerr << " ##"<< endl; }
template<class H, class... T> void DBG(H h, T... t) {
	cerr << ts(h); if (sizeof...(t)) cerr << ", ";
	DBG(t...); }
#ifdef LOCAL // compile with -DLOCAL, chk -> fake assert
	#define printe(...) cerr << "Line(" << __LINE__ << ") -> [" << #__VA_ARGS__ << "]: ", DBG(__VA_ARGS__)
	#define chk(...) if (!(__VA_ARGS__)) cerr << "Line(" << __LINE__ << ") -> function(" \
		 << __FUNCTION__  << ") -> CHK FAILED: (" << #__VA_ARGS__ << ")" << "\n", exit(0);
#else
	#define printe(...) 0
	#define chk(...) 0
#endif
 
// FILE I/O
void setIn(str s) { freopen(s.c_str(),"r",stdin); }
void setOut(str s) { freopen(s.c_str(),"w",stdout); }
void unsyncIO() { ios_base::sync_with_stdio(0); cin.tie(0); }
void setIO(str s = "") {
	unsyncIO();
	// cin.exceptions(cin.failbit); 
	// throws exception when do smth illegal
	// ex. try to read letter into int
	if (sz(s)) { setIn(s+".in"), setOut(s+".out"); } // for USACO
}

ll gcd(ll a, ll b) { return b?gcd(b,a%b):a;}
ll lcm(ll a, ll b) { return a/gcd(a,b)*b;}

template< typename T >
struct edge {
  int src, to;
  T cost;
  edge(int to, T cost) : src(-1), to(to), cost(cost) {}
  edge(int src, int to, T cost) : src(src), to(to), cost(cost) {}
  edge &operator=(const int &x) {
    to = x;
    return *this;
  }
  operator int() const { return to; }
};

template< typename T >
using Edges = vector< edge< T > >;
template< typename T >
using WeightedGraph = vector< Edges< T > >;
using UnWeightedGraph = vector< vector< int > >;
template< typename T >
using Matrix = vector< vector< T > >;

signed main(){
    setIO(); 
    //ll N; re(N);
	ll N, M; re(N,M);
	//vi A(N); re(A);
	vs S(N);
	rep(i,N) re(S[i]);
	mf_graph<int> G(N*M+2);
	int s=N*M, t=N*M+1;
	rep(i,N){
		rep(j,M){
			if ((i+j)%2==0) G.add_edge(s,i*M+j,1);
			else G.add_edge(i*M+j,t,1);
		}
	}
	rep(i,N){
		rep(j,M){
			int cur=i*M+j;
			if (S[i][j]=='#' || (i+j)%2==1) continue;
			if (i<N-1 && S[i+1][j]=='.'){
				int ne= (i+1)*M+j;
				G.add_edge(cur,ne,1);
			}
			if (j<M-1 && S[i][j+1]=='.'){
				int ne= i*M+j+1;
				G.add_edge(cur,ne,1);
			}

			if (i && S[i-1][j]=='.'){
				int ne= (i-1)*M+j;
				G.add_edge(cur,ne,1);
			}
			if (j && S[i][j-1]=='.'){
				int ne= i*M+j-1;
				G.add_edge(cur,ne,1);
			}

		}
	}
	int ans = G.flow(s,t);
	print(ans);
	rep(i,N){
		rep(j,M){
			int cur=i*M+j;
			if (i<N-1 && S[i][j]=='.' && S[i+1][j]=='.'){
				int ne= (i+1)*M+j;
				G.add_edge(cur,ne,1);
			}
			if (j<M-1 && S[i][j]=='.' && S[i][j+1]=='.'){
				int ne= i*M+j+1;
				G.add_edge(cur,ne,1);
			}
		}
	}
	auto edges=G.edges();
	trav(edge, edges){
		if (edge.from==s || edge.to==t){
			continue;
		}
		if (edge.flow==1){
			int fi=edge.from/M;
			int fj=edge.from%M;
			int ti=(edge.to)/M;
			int tj=(edge.to)%M;
			if (fi==ti-1){
				S[fi][fj]='v';
				S[ti][tj]='^';
			}
			if (fi==ti+1){
				S[fi][fj]='^';
				S[ti][tj]='v';
			}
			if (fj==tj-1){
				S[fi][fj]='>';
				S[ti][tj]='<';
			}
			if (fj==tj+1){
				S[fi][fj]='<';
				S[ti][tj]='>';
			}
		}
	}
	rep(i,N){
		print(S[i]);
	}

}


Measured memory_bytes: 7304