help with String manipulation

I have worked out that this code simply tests the first character and stores it,

so back to my question
how can i filter a string to give me the first 3 characters so that i can store it,
i want to capture a 3 digit value i. 255.
in VB6 i can use the mid or instring command and get the characters i want
how is this acheived with c and the arduino code.

I have looked at the tutorials and string examples but i have not found one that will filter characters out of a string

please help
J.