Pseudocode describing general structure of a recursive backtracker

pseudo-recursive-backtracker

bool Solve(configuration conf) {
  if (no more choices) {    // base case
    return (conf is goal state)
  }
  
  for (all available choices) {
    try one choice C:
      // solve here, if it works, you're done
    if (Solve(conf with choice C made) return true;
    undo choice C
  }
  
  return false  // tried all choices, no solution found, backtrack
}