Deallocate all memory in a container of pointers

I want to erase all memory in a container. Currently I'm using this :

template
void clear_mem(Cont &container)
{
    while (!container.empty())
    {
        delete container.back();
        container.pop_back();
    }
}

• Should the operation of deleting the memory held by the contents be separated by clearing the container ?

• Is it pointless to make this function a template, since it can only operate on vector and list ?

This assumes that the container holds raw pointer and it owns the pointers. it is a better idea to then let the container hold smart pointers.

These will automatically clear the object they hold when they get destroyed (using delete by default).

typedef std::unique_ptr Type_ptr;
std::vector container;

and use emplace to fill it;

container.emplace_back(std::make_unique());

StackExchange Code Review Q#51129, answer score: 10