Inputting and comparing characters

Lets say i have a touch screen which i have allocated 4 touch buttons to.

OK. All together now "I have a ..."

The buttons are labled 1,2,3 and 4.

The Arduino doesn't know that.

My question is how do i get the arduino to recognise each button as a character "1,2,3,4".

How is the Arduino now knowing which button is pressed?

If you get the Arduino to recognize that the "button labled 3" is pressed, it is no big deal to assign a char of any value to an array.

char array[4];
byte index = 0;

char pretendChar = '0';
if(/* Somehow detect "button labled 3" is pressed */)
{
   pretendChar = '3';
}
// else other button checks

array[index] = pretendChar;