This is a bipartite matching problem. This can be solved using Ford fulkerson algorithm for Max flow problem.
#include <iostream>
#include <limits.h>
#include <string.h>
#include <queue>
using namespace std;
int gr[500][500];
int rgr[500][500];
string str[50];
int h,w;
int numOfantena;
int parent[500];
bool visited[500];
int src,targt;
bool bfs(int s, int t)
{
memset(visited, 0, sizeof(visited));
queue <int> q;
q.push(s);
visited[s] = true;
parent[s] = -1;
while (!q.empty())
{
int a = q.front();
q.pop();
for (int i=0; i<=targt; i++)
{
if (visited[i]==false && rgr[a][i] > 0)
{
q.push(i);
parent[i] = a;
visited[i] = true;
}
}
}
return (visited[t] == true);
}
int fordFulkerson(int s, int t)
{
int u, v;
for (u = 0; u <=targt; u++)
for (v = 0; v <= targt; v++)
rgr[u][v] = gr[u][v];
int max_flow = 0;
memset(parent, -1, sizeof(parent));
while (bfs(s, t))
{
int path_flow = INT_MAX;
for (v=t; v!=s; v=parent[v])
{
u = parent[v];
path_flow = min(path_flow, rgr[u][v]);
}
for (v=t; v != s; v=parent[v])
{
u = parent[v];
rgr[u][v] -= path_flow;
rgr[v][u] += path_flow;
}
max_flow += path_flow;
}
return max_flow;
}
int main()
{
int t;
cin>>t;
while(t--)
{
cin>>h>>w;
numOfantena = 0;
for(int i=0;i<h;i++)
{
cin>>str[i];
}
memset(gr,0,sizeof(gr));
memset(rgr,0,sizeof(rgr));
src = 0;
targt = h*w+1;
for(int i=0;i<h;i++)
{
for(int j=0;j<w;j++)
{
if(str[i][j]=='*')
{
numOfantena++;
if((i+j)%2)
{
gr[src][i*w+j+1]=1;
if(i-1>=0 && str[i-1][j]=='*')
{
gr[i*w+j+1][(i-1)*w+j+1]=1;
}
if(i+1<h && str[i+1][j]=='*')
{
gr[i*w+j+1][(i+1)*w+j+1]=1;
}
if(j-1>=0 && str[i][j-1]=='*')
{
gr[i*w+j+1][i*w+j-1+1]=1;
}
if(j+1<w && str[i][j+1]=='*')
{
gr[i*w+j+1][i*w+j+1+1]=1;
}
}
else
gr[i*w+j+1][targt]=1;
}
}
}
int flow = fordFulkerson(src, targt);
cout<<(numOfantena-2*flow)+flow<<"\n";
}
return 0;
}