How do I convert dates from excel into Matlab

I am trying to make a time sereis plot and I am stuck at importing my times from Excel into MATLAB.

My excel files have 4 columns first is the date, second is the hour, thirs is direction and fourth is speed. How do I combine columns 1 and 2 into the format, 31-Dec-2008 23:00:00? The excel file format file is layed out below:

01/01/2012  0  250  17
01/01/2012  1  250  15
01/01/2012  2  240  16
01/01/2012  3  240  13
01/01/2012  4  240  14

Answer 1

[dpb]

tData=readtable('yourfile.xlsx','ReadVariableNames',0);
tData.Properties.Variablenames={'Day','Hour','WindDir','Speed'};
tData.Date=t.Day+hours(tData.Hour);

readtable will recognize the dates and import the date column as a datetime; add a duration of the hours column to build the date including the time.