Is there an equivalent of OFFSET for array contents - excel-formula

Question

I would like to dynamically modify the dimensions of array contents just like OFFSET's height and width do with ranges.
Let A1:A5 equal to 1, 2, 3, 4, 5
if I want to get the first 3 values with offset (using a range):
=OFFSET(A1:A5,,3,1) => {1;2;3}
But this doesn't work:
=OFFSET({1;2;3;4;5},,,3,1)
Is there an equivalent to OFFSET but for array contents? This is of course part of a much bigger array formula which forces me to work with array contents instead of ranges.
Of course I could easily do it with VBA but I'd rather not, let's call this company limitations...
Thank you very much for your help.
PS: first time posting here, any remarks/advice to improve my questions are most welcome.

Answer 1

Hi & Welcome to the forum. I think you are almost correct - the only thing you need to do is to press Ctrl+Shift+Enter in order to turn your OFFSET formula into an Array formula:
In the example below I have combined your OFFSET with SUMPRODUCT formula (which works with ranges and arrays). As you can see the result of SUMPRODUCT function is correct (i.e. sum of first 3 values):
Let me know if this is what you were looking for.

Answer 2

You can use INDEX to return an array:
INDEX({1;2;3;4;5},N(IF({1},ROW(INDEX($ZZ:$ZZ,1):INDEX($ZZ:$ZZ,3)))))
This will force any formula that uses this to become an array formula and as such must be entered with Ctrl-Shift-Enter instead of Enter when exiting edit mode.
Change the ,1 to the start position desired and the 3 to the end position desired.
N(IF({1},ROW(INDEX($ZZ:$ZZ,1):INDEX($ZZ:$ZZ,3))))
Creates an array of numbers from the 1 to the 3 in this case. Which is passed to the INDEX and the INDEX will then return an array of the array {1,2,3}
As you can see with this sum of that array: