For example:

template<typename T>
void write(T value)
{
    mystream << value;
}

template<>
void write<const char*>(const char* value)
{
    write_escaped(mystream, value);
}

template<>
void write<char*>(char* value)
{
    write_escaped(mystream, value);
}

template<>
void write<std::string>(std::string value)
{
    write_escaped(mystream.c_str(), value);
}

This looks like I'm doing it wrong, especially the two variants for const and non-const char*. However I checked that if I only specialize for const char * then passing a char * variable will invoke the non-specialized version, when called like this in VC++10:

char something[25];
strcpy(something, "blah");
write(something);

What would be the proper way of doing this?