diff --git a/examples/format.cc b/examples/format.cc
index 3f02789..8e1c7fa 100644
--- a/examples/format.cc
+++ b/examples/format.cc
@@ -79,7 +79,7 @@ int main() {
     writefln("%i", Bar{});
 
     /* format into string */
-    auto s = appender<std::string>();
+    auto s = appender_range<std::string>{};
     format(s, "hello %s", "world");
     writeln(s.get());
 }
diff --git a/ostd/range.hh b/ostd/range.hh
index 84c672d..af262ab 100644
--- a/ostd/range.hh
+++ b/ostd/range.hh
@@ -1544,16 +1544,6 @@ private:
     T p_data;
 };
 
-template<typename T>
-inline appender_range<T> appender() {
-    return appender_range<T>();
-}
-
-template<typename T>
-inline appender_range<T> appender(T &&v) {
-    return appender_range<T>(std::forward<T>(v));
-}
-
 namespace detail {
     template<typename>
     struct iterator_range_tag_base {
diff --git a/ostd/string.hh b/ostd/string.hh
index fd0fd11..dff6de5 100644
--- a/ostd/string.hh
+++ b/ostd/string.hh
@@ -589,7 +589,7 @@ template<typename T>
 struct to_string<T, std::enable_if_t<detail::iterable_test<T>>> {
     std::string operator()(T const &v) const {
         std::string ret("{");
-        auto x = appender<std::string>();
+        auto x = appender_range<std::string>{};
         if (concat(x, ostd::iter(v), ", ", to_string<
             std::remove_const_t<std::remove_reference_t<
                 range_reference_t<decltype(ostd::iter(v))>
@@ -607,7 +607,7 @@ struct to_string<T, std::enable_if_t<
     detail::stringify_test<T, detail::tostr_range<appender_range<std::string>>>
 >> {
     std::string operator()(T const &v) const {
-        auto app = appender<std::string>();
+        auto app = appender_range<std::string>{};
         detail::tostr_range<appender_range<std::string>> sink(app);
         if (!v.to_string(sink)) {
             return std::string{};