The ___ function copies, at most, \(n\) number of characters from one string to another.

Start by creating two strings: the source string (i.e., the string containing the characters to be copied) and the destination string (i.e., the string where the characters will be copied to). For example: Source string: "Hello, World!" Destination string: ""

Create a function named copy_characters which accepts two strings (the source and destination) and the variable n (the maximum number of characters to be copied from one string to another). Inside the copy_characters function, follow these steps: 1. Incorporate a loop that iterates from 0 to n-1. 2. For each iteration, copy the character from the source string at the current index to the destination string. 3. If the source string ends or n characters have been copied, exit the loop. 4. Return the destination string.

The copy_characters function works as follows: 1. The loop iterates from 0 to n-1, which allows it to cover at most n characters from the source string. 2. For each iteration, the character in the source string at the current index is copied to the destination string. This is achieved by appending the character to the destination string. 3. The loop will exit when it reaches the end of the source string or when n characters have been copied, whichever comes first. 4. After the loop is finished, the function returns the destination string containing the copied characters. Here is the full function in code: ```python def copy_characters(source, destination, n): for i in range(min(n, len(source))): destination += source[i] return destination ``` Example of usage: ```python source = "Hello, World!" destination = "" n = 5 result = copy_characters(source, destination, n) print(result) # Output: "Hello" ```