def area_code(phone_number):
    """ Given a phone number in the format: 802-555-1212
    extract the first 3 characters and return this as a string

    :param phone_number: (str) Must be formatted "XXX-XXX-XXXX"
    :return: (str) 3 digit area_code
    """
    return phone_number[:3]


# Leave this part for easily testing your function
print('"802-555-1212"  area_code returns', area_code("802-555-1212"))
print('"410-617-3452"  area_code returns', area_code("410-617-3452"))