char* subString (const char* input, int offset, int len, char* dest)
{
  int input_len = strlen (input);

  if (offset + len > input_len)
  {
     return NULL;
  }

  strncpy (dest, input + offset, len);
  return dest;
}

char dest[80];
const char* source = "hello world";

if (subString (source, 0, 5, dest))
{
  printf ("%s\n", dest);
}