ssds = 

  SpreadsheetDatastore with properties:

                      Files: {
                             ' ...\matlab\toolbox\matlab\demos\airlinesmall_subset.xlsx'
                             }
   AlternateFileSystemRoots: {}
                     Sheets: ''
                      Range: ''
            ReadFailureRule: 'error'
                MaxFailures: Inf

  Sheet Format Properties:
             NumHeaderLines: 0
          ReadVariableNames: true
              VariableNames: {'Year', 'Month', 'DayofMonth' ... and 26 more}
              VariableTypes: {'double', 'double', 'double' ... and 26 more}

  Properties that control the table returned by preview, read, readall:
      SelectedVariableNames: {'Year', 'Month', 'DayofMonth' ... and 26 more}
      SelectedVariableTypes: {'double', 'double', 'double' ... and 26 more}
                   ReadSize: 'file'

ans = 

  13×1 string array

    "1996"
    "1997"
    "1998"
    "1999"
    "2000"
    "2001"
    "2002"
    "2003"
    "2004"
    "2005"
    "2006"
    "2007"
    "2008"