When only the return type differs an overload just isn't enough!

template_function_specialization.cpp

#include <iostream>
#include <list>
#include <vector>

//the guts that both specializations can use
template <class container_t>
void fill(container_t& c, int start, int end) {
  for(;start <= end; ++start)
    c.push_back(start);
}

//unspecialed
template <class container_t>
container_t seq(int start, int end);

//specialize for list
template <> std::list<int> seq<std::list<int> >(int start, int end) {
  std::cout << "specialed list: " << std::endl;
  std::list<int> l;
  fill(l, start, end);
  return l;
}

//specialize for vector
template <> std::vector<int> seq<std::vector<int> >(int start, int end) {
  std::cout << "specialed vector: " << std::endl;
  std::vector<int> v;
  v.reserve(end - start);
  fill(v, start, end);
  return v;
}

int main() {
  auto l = seq<std::list<int> >(0, 10);
  for(auto e : l)
    std::cout << e << ' ';
  std::cout << std::endl;

  auto v = seq<std::vector<int> >(0, 10);
  for(auto e : v)
    std::cout << e << ' ';
  std::cout << std::endl;
}