#pragma GCC optimize ("O3")
#include <iostream>
#include <iomanip>
#include <istream>
#include <ostream>
#include <sstream>
#include <iterator>
#include <vector>
#include <algorithm>
#include <queue>
#include <deque>
#include <list>
#include <stack>
#include <map>
#include <unordered_map>
#include <set>
#include <bitset>
#include <utility>
#include <cmath>
#include <cstdio>
#include <cstring>
#include <string>
#include <ctime>
#include <cctype>
#include <cstdlib>
#include <numeric>
#include <atcoder/dsu>
#include <atcoder/fenwicktree>
#include <atcoder/math>
#include <atcoder/maxflow>
#define IINF 1000000000
#define INF 3223372036854775807
#define MOD 1000000007
#define mod 1000000007
#define INT_MAX_ 2147483647
#define EPS (1e-10)
#define REP(i, a, n) fo-r (ll i = a; i < (ll)(n); i++)
#define REPE(i, a, n) for (ll i = a; i <= (ll)(n); i++)
//#define rep(i,n)for (ll i = 0; i < (ll)(n); i++)
#define rep(i,l,r)for(ll i=(l);i<(r);i++)
#define rep1(i,n) for(int i=1;i<=(int)(n);i++)
#define Endl endl
#define fi first
#define se second
#define pb push_back
#define mp make_pair
#define mt make_tuple
#define eb emplace_back
#define mmax(x,y)(x>y?x:y)
#define mmin(x,y)(x<y?x:y)
#define chmax(x,y) x=mmax(x,y)
#define chmin(x,y) x=mmin(x,y)
#define all(x) (x).begin(),(x).end()
#define siz(x) (ll)(x).size()
#define PI acos(-1.0)
#define me memset
#define bit(n,k) ((n>>k)&1)
#define lg length()
using namespace std;
using namespace atcoder;
typedef long long int ll;
typedef unsigned long long int ull;
typedef long double ld;
typedef pair<int,int>Pin;
typedef pair<ll,ll>Pll;
template<class T> using V=vector<T>;
template<typename T> using min_priority_queue = priority_queue<T, vector<T>, greater<T> >;
long long GCD(long long a, long long b) {return b?GCD(b,a%b):a;}
long long LCM(long long a, long long b) {return a/GCD(a,b)*b;}
ll pom(ll a,ll n,int m){ll x=1;for(a%=m;n;n/=2)n&1?x=x*a%m:0,a=a*a%m;return x;}
#define invp(a,p)pom(a,p-2,p)
int dx[4]={-1,0,1,0};
int dy[4]={0,-1,0,1};
int ddx[8]={-1,0,1,0,1,1,-1,-1};
int ddy[8]={0,-1,0,1,1,-1,1,-1};
ll cmp1(pair<Pll,ll> a,pair<Pll,ll> b){
        return a.fi.se>b.fi.se;
}
ll cmp2(pair<ll,ll> a,pair<ll,ll> b){
    if(a.fi!=b.fi)
        return  a.se<b.se;
    else
        return a.se>b.se;
}
//----------------------------------------------------------------------

//----------------------------------------------------------------------
int main(int argc, char * argv[]){
    cin.tie(0);
    ios::sync_with_stdio(false);
    //-------------------------------  
    //ll begin_t=clock();
    //freopen("big.txt", "r", stdin);
    //freopen("out3.txt", "w", stdout);
    //------------------------------
    ll n,m;cin>>n>>m;
    char s[110][110];
    for(ll i=0;i<n;i++){
        for(ll j=0;j<m;j++){
            cin>>s[i][j];
        }
    }
    mf_graph<ll> G(n*m+2);
    ll st = n*m , t= n*m+1;
    for(ll i=0;i<n;i++){
        for(ll j=0;j<m;j++){
            if(s[i][j]=='#')continue;
            if((i+j)%2==0){
                G.add_edge(st,i*m+j,1);
            }
            else{
                G.add_edge(i*m+j,t,1);
            }
        }
    }
    for(ll i=0;i<n;i++){
        for(ll j=0;j<m;j++){
            if(s[i][j]=='.'){
                if((i+j)%2==0){
                    for(ll k=0;k<4;k++){
                        ll ni = i+dx[k];
                        ll nj = j+dy[k];
                        if(ni>=0&&ni<n&&nj>=0&&nj<m){
                            if(s[ni][nj]=='.'){
                                G.add_edge(i*m+j,ni*m+nj,1);
                            }
                        }
                    }
                }
            }
        }
    }
    cout<<G.flow(st,t)<<endl;
    auto edges = G.edges();
    for(auto e:edges){
        if(e.from==st||e.to==t||e.flow==0)continue;
        ll i0 = e.from / m, j0 = e.from % m;
        ll i1 = e.to / m, j1 = e.to % m;
        if (i0 == i1 + 1) {
            s[i1][j1] = 'v';
            s[i0][j0] = '^';
        } else if (j0 == j1 + 1) {
            s[i1][j1] = '>'; 
            s[i0][j0] = '<';
        } else if (i0 == i1 - 1) {
            s[i0][j0] = 'v';
            s[i1][j1] = '^';
        } else {
            s[i0][j0] = '>'; 
            s[i1][j1] = '<';
        }
    }
    for(ll i=0;i<n;i++){
        for(ll j=0;j<m;j++){
            cout<<s[i][j];
        }
        cout<<endl;
    }
    //------------------------------
    //fclose(stdin);
    //fclose(stdout);
    //ll end_t=clock();cout<<"time="<<end_t-begin_t<<"ms"<<endl;
    //------------------------------- 
    return 0;
}
//----------------------------------------------------------------------




































Measured memory_bytes: 6340