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I am using latest available version of NeoVim v0.4.3 and latest Arch build with kernel 5.6.4-arch1-1.
Within .vimrc what is the difference between
:nnoremap ... and
nnoremap ....
Or, what effect, if any, does the addition of removal of the : at the start of the line make?
There’s no difference.
When executing ex commands interactively, you type the colon to switch from normal mode into command line mode where these can be entered, but your vimrc is already read as a series of ex (or Vimscript) commands, so the colon is unnecessary.
But having said that, it doesn’t have any ill effect if the colon is there: it just doesn’t do anything.
All spaces, tabs and colons before and after :h :range (i.e. before the start of actual command) are skipped by Vim's internal parser. There makes no difference how many of them and in what order are there. So, for example,
:: :: 1,2 :: :: print
is absolutely valid.
:and would allow others to more easily find the answer. The question you kindly answered I could not find during what I thought was a fairly extensive search last night and in previous days. Becasue the linked question asks a question which does not identify the:subject.