Added __lt__ function to Text class to enable sort functionality

rich/text.py

@@ -171,6 +171,20 @@ def __eq__(self, other: object) -> bool:
             return NotImplemented
         return self.plain == other.plain and self._spans == other._spans
 
+    def __lt__(self, other: object) -> bool:
+        if isinstance(other, str):
+            return self.plain < other
+        elif isinstance(other, Text):
+            return self.plain < other.plain
+        return NotImplemented
+
+    def __gt__(self, other: object) -> bool:
+        if isinstance(other, str):
+            return self.plain > other
+        elif isinstance(other, Text):
+            return self.plain > other.plain
+        return NotImplemented
+
     def __contains__(self, other: object) -> bool:
         if isinstance(other, str):
             return other in self.plain
@@ -1088,7 +1102,6 @@ def divide(self, offsets: Iterable[int]) -> Lines:
         _Span = Span
 
         for span_start, span_end, style in self._spans:
-
             lower_bound = 0
             upper_bound = line_count
             start_line_no = (lower_bound + upper_bound) // 2

tests/test_text.py

@@ -806,3 +806,23 @@ def test_markup_property():
         == "[bold]foo [italic]bar[/bold] baz[/italic]"
     )
     assert Text("[bold]foo").markup == "\\[bold]foo"
+
+
+def test_lt():
+    text = Text("foobar")
+    assert not (text < "foo")
+    assert not (text < "foo ")
+    assert text < "foobar!"
+    assert Text("bar") < text
+    assert "foo" < text
+    assert not ("foobar" < text)
+
+
+def test_gt():
+    text = Text("foobar")
+    assert text > "foo"
+    assert text > "foo "
+    assert not (text > "foobar!")
+    assert not (Text("bar") > text)
+    assert "foobar!" > text
+    assert not ("foobar" > text)