How to set a background image in Xcode using swift?

How can I set a background image for my main view controller in Xcode 6 using swift? I know that you can do this in the assistant editor as below:

override func viewDidLoad() {
    super.viewDidLoad()
    view.backgroundColor = UIColor.yellowColor()
}

What is the code to set the background to an image I have in my assets folder?

override func viewDidLoad() {
    super.viewDidLoad()
    self.view.backgroundColor = UIColor(patternImage: UIImage(named: "background.png"))
}

I am beginner to iOS development so I would like to share whole info I got in this section.

First from image assets (images.xcassets) create image set .

According to Documentation here is all sizes need to create background image.

For iPhone 5:
   640 x 1136

   For iPhone 6:
   750 x 1334 (@2x) for portrait
   1334 x 750 (@2x) for landscape

   For iPhone 6 Plus:
   1242 x 2208 (@3x) for portrait
   2208 x 1242 (@3x) for landscape

   iPhone 4s (@2x)      
   640 x 960

   iPad and iPad mini (@2x) 
   1536 x 2048 (portrait)
   2048 x 1536 (landscape)

   iPad 2 and iPad mini (@1x)
   768 x 1024 (portrait)
   1024 x 768 (landscape)

   iPad Pro (@2x)
   2048 x 2732 (portrait)
   2732 x 2048 (landscape)

call the image background we can call image from image assets by using this method UIImage(named: "background") here is full code example

  override func viewDidLoad() {
          super.viewDidLoad()
             assignbackground()
            // Do any additional setup after loading the view.
        }

  func assignbackground(){
        let background = UIImage(named: "background")

        var imageView : UIImageView!
        imageView = UIImageView(frame: view.bounds)
        imageView.contentMode =  UIViewContentMode.ScaleAspectFill
        imageView.clipsToBounds = true
        imageView.image = background
        imageView.center = view.center
        view.addSubview(imageView)
        self.view.sendSubviewToBack(imageView)
    }

override func viewDidLoad() {

    let backgroundImage = UIImageView(frame: UIScreen.main.bounds)
    backgroundImage.image = UIImage(named: "bg_image")
    backgroundImage.contentMode = UIViewContentMode.scaleAspectfill
    self.view.insertSubview(backgroundImage, at: 0)

}

Updated at 20-May-2020:

The code snippet above doesn't work well after rotating the device. Here is the solution which can make the image stretch according to the screen size(after rotating):

class ViewController: UIViewController {

    var imageView: UIImageView = {
        let imageView = UIImageView(frame: .zero)
        imageView.image = UIImage(named: "bg_image")
        imageView.contentMode = .scaleToFill
        imageView.translatesAutoresizingMaskIntoConstraints = false
        return imageView
    }()

    override func viewDidLoad() {
        super.viewDidLoad()

        view.insertSubview(imageView, at: 0)
        NSLayoutConstraint.activate([
            imageView.topAnchor.constraint(equalTo: view.topAnchor),
            imageView.leadingAnchor.constraint(equalTo: view.leadingAnchor),
            imageView.trailingAnchor.constraint(equalTo: view.trailingAnchor),
            imageView.bottomAnchor.constraint(equalTo: view.bottomAnchor)
        ])
    }
}

SWIFT 4

view.layer.contents = #imageLiteral(resourceName: "webbg").cgImage

You can try this as well, which is really a combination of previous answers from other posters here :

    let backgroundImage = UIImageView(frame: UIScreen.main.bounds)
    backgroundImage.image = UIImage(named: "RubberMat")
    backgroundImage.contentMode =  UIViewContentMode.scaleAspectFill
    self.view.insertSubview(backgroundImage, at: 0)