<p>Write a program to solve a Sudoku puzzle by filling the empty cells.</p>

<p>A sudoku solution must satisfy <strong>all of the following rules</strong>:</p>

<ol>
	<li>Each of the digits <code>1-9</code> must occur exactly once in each row.</li>
	<li>Each of the digits <code>1-9</code> must occur exactly once in each column.</li>
	<li>Each of the digits <code>1-9</code> must occur exactly once in each of the 9 <code>3x3</code> sub-boxes of the grid.</li>
</ol>

<p>The <code>&#39;.&#39;</code> character indicates empty cells.</p>

<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p><strong class="example">Example 1:</strong></p>
<img src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/f/ff/Sudoku-by-L2G-20050714.svg/250px-Sudoku-by-L2G-20050714.svg.png" style="height:250px; width:250px" />
<pre>
<strong>Input:</strong> board = [[&quot;5&quot;,&quot;3&quot;,&quot;.&quot;,&quot;.&quot;,&quot;7&quot;,&quot;.&quot;,&quot;.&quot;,&quot;.&quot;,&quot;.&quot;],[&quot;6&quot;,&quot;.&quot;,&quot;.&quot;,&quot;1&quot;,&quot;9&quot;,&quot;5&quot;,&quot;.&quot;,&quot;.&quot;,&quot;.&quot;],[&quot;.&quot;,&quot;9&quot;,&quot;8&quot;,&quot;.&quot;,&quot;.&quot;,&quot;.&quot;,&quot;.&quot;,&quot;6&quot;,&quot;.&quot;],[&quot;8&quot;,&quot;.&quot;,&quot;.&quot;,&quot;.&quot;,&quot;6&quot;,&quot;.&quot;,&quot;.&quot;,&quot;.&quot;,&quot;3&quot;],[&quot;4&quot;,&quot;.&quot;,&quot;.&quot;,&quot;8&quot;,&quot;.&quot;,&quot;3&quot;,&quot;.&quot;,&quot;.&quot;,&quot;1&quot;],[&quot;7&quot;,&quot;.&quot;,&quot;.&quot;,&quot;.&quot;,&quot;2&quot;,&quot;.&quot;,&quot;.&quot;,&quot;.&quot;,&quot;6&quot;],[&quot;.&quot;,&quot;6&quot;,&quot;.&quot;,&quot;.&quot;,&quot;.&quot;,&quot;.&quot;,&quot;2&quot;,&quot;8&quot;,&quot;.&quot;],[&quot;.&quot;,&quot;.&quot;,&quot;.&quot;,&quot;4&quot;,&quot;1&quot;,&quot;9&quot;,&quot;.&quot;,&quot;.&quot;,&quot;5&quot;],[&quot;.&quot;,&quot;.&quot;,&quot;.&quot;,&quot;.&quot;,&quot;8&quot;,&quot;.&quot;,&quot;.&quot;,&quot;7&quot;,&quot;9&quot;]]
<strong>Output:</strong> [[&quot;5&quot;,&quot;3&quot;,&quot;4&quot;,&quot;6&quot;,&quot;7&quot;,&quot;8&quot;,&quot;9&quot;,&quot;1&quot;,&quot;2&quot;],[&quot;6&quot;,&quot;7&quot;,&quot;2&quot;,&quot;1&quot;,&quot;9&quot;,&quot;5&quot;,&quot;3&quot;,&quot;4&quot;,&quot;8&quot;],[&quot;1&quot;,&quot;9&quot;,&quot;8&quot;,&quot;3&quot;,&quot;4&quot;,&quot;2&quot;,&quot;5&quot;,&quot;6&quot;,&quot;7&quot;],[&quot;8&quot;,&quot;5&quot;,&quot;9&quot;,&quot;7&quot;,&quot;6&quot;,&quot;1&quot;,&quot;4&quot;,&quot;2&quot;,&quot;3&quot;],[&quot;4&quot;,&quot;2&quot;,&quot;6&quot;,&quot;8&quot;,&quot;5&quot;,&quot;3&quot;,&quot;7&quot;,&quot;9&quot;,&quot;1&quot;],[&quot;7&quot;,&quot;1&quot;,&quot;3&quot;,&quot;9&quot;,&quot;2&quot;,&quot;4&quot;,&quot;8&quot;,&quot;5&quot;,&quot;6&quot;],[&quot;9&quot;,&quot;6&quot;,&quot;1&quot;,&quot;5&quot;,&quot;3&quot;,&quot;7&quot;,&quot;2&quot;,&quot;8&quot;,&quot;4&quot;],[&quot;2&quot;,&quot;8&quot;,&quot;7&quot;,&quot;4&quot;,&quot;1&quot;,&quot;9&quot;,&quot;6&quot;,&quot;3&quot;,&quot;5&quot;],[&quot;3&quot;,&quot;4&quot;,&quot;5&quot;,&quot;2&quot;,&quot;8&quot;,&quot;6&quot;,&quot;1&quot;,&quot;7&quot;,&quot;9&quot;]]
<strong>Explanation:</strong>&nbsp;The input board is shown above and the only valid solution is shown below:

<img src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/3/31/Sudoku-by-L2G-20050714_solution.svg/250px-Sudoku-by-L2G-20050714_solution.svg.png" style="height:250px; width:250px" />
</pre>

<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p><strong>Constraints:</strong></p>

<ul>
	<li><code>board.length == 9</code></li>
	<li><code>board[i].length == 9</code></li>
	<li><code>board[i][j]</code> is a digit or <code>&#39;.&#39;</code>.</li>
	<li>It is <strong>guaranteed</strong> that the input board has only one solution.</li>
</ul>

class Solution:
    def solveSudoku(self, board: List[List[str]]) -> None:
        """
        Do not return anything, modify board in-place instead.
        """
        
        def couldPlace(d, row, col):

            return not (
                d in rows[row] 
                or d in columns[col] 
                or d in boxes[box_index(row, col)]
            )

        def placeNumber(d, row, col):

            rows[row][d] += 1
            columns[col][d] += 1
            boxes[box_index(row, col)][d] += 1
            board[row][col] = str(d)
        
        def removeNumber(d, row, col):

            rows[row][d] -= 1
            columns[col][d] -= 1
            boxes[box_index(row, col)][d] -= 1 
            if rows[row][d] == 0:
                del rows[row][d]
            if columns[col][d] == 0:
                del columns[col][d]
            if boxes[box_index(row,col)][d] == 0:
                del boxes[box_index(row, col)][d]
            board[row][col] = '.'

        def placeNext(row, col):

            if col == N - 1 and row == N - 1:
                sudokuSolved[0] = True
            else:
                if col == N - 1:
                    backtrack(row + 1, 0)
                else:
                    backtrack(row, col + 1)
        
        def backtrack(row = 0, col = 0):

            if board[row][col] == '.':
                for d in range(1, 10):
                    if couldPlace(d, row, col):
                        placeNumber(d, row, col)
                        placeNext(row, col)
                        if sudokuSolved[0]:
                            return
                        removeNumber(d, row, col)
            else:
                placeNext(row, col)

        n = 3
        N = n * n
        box_index = lambda row, col: (row // n) * n + col // n

        rows = [defaultdict(int) for _ in range(N)]
        columns = [defaultdict(int) for _ in range(N)]
        boxes = [defaultdict(int) for _ in range(N)]

        for r in range(N):
            for c in range(N):
                if board[r][c] != '.':
                    d = int(board[r][c])
                    placeNumber(d, r, c)
        
        sudokuSolved = [False]
        backtrack()

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